The Senate Subcommittee on VA-HUD and Independent Agencies Subcommittee significantly improved the outlook for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnerships program for FY2000 with increases for both programs over the recently passed House funding levels.  The Senate approved funding for CDBG at $4.8 billion, a $50 million increase over last year’s level of $4.750, and $25 million more than requested by the administration.  The Senate subcommittee funded HOME at $1.6 billion, the same as last year’s funding.   The appropriations bill was passed on September 16.

The House, which passed its bill on September 9, cut the CDBG program from $4.750 billion to $4.5 billion, while HOME was cut from $1.6 billion to $1.58 billion. In addition, the House bill cuts funding for the homeless, the HOPE VI (the distressed public housing program), Brownfields, and the Housing Opportunity for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA).  Virtually none of the Administration’s new initiatives for HUD were funded in the House bill  including the America’s Private Investment Companies (APIC) which is part of the administration’s highly touted New Markets Strategy.

Neither the House nor the Senate provide funding for incremental housing vouchers.  In its FY2000 budget, the administration requested 100,000 incremental housing vouchers.  The Senate also cut HOPE VI from $625 million to $500 million, which is also $125 million less than the administration’s request.

In a joint letter released by the Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties (NACo) to the Senate,  the severity of the cuts are described: “The cutbacks in HUD’s programs could not be more ill-timed.  While many of our communities have made tremendous progress in the last few years, some communities have really only begun to turn the corner.  High unemployment continues to plague one in six central cities, one in five are steadily losing population and poverty remains unacceptably high in 33%.“