By Eugene T. Lowe
February 6, 2006

Columbus (OH) Mayor Michael B. Coleman, Chair of the Conference of Mayors’ Community Development and Housing Committee, moderated the Annual Winter Meeting January 27 briefing of policy issues that the committee will have to pay particular attention to during 2006. Those issues revolve around the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, the housing of hurricane victims, and questions on the definition of homelessness.

Representative Michael R. Turner (OH), Chair of the Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census of the U.S. House of Representatives Government Reform Committee, briefed the mayors on his subcommittee report on CDBG. Last year, Turner led the effort in the House to save CDBG when the program was proposed for elimination in the administration’s 2006 budget. On January 20, he and several other members of the House sent a letter to President Bush urging support and a “traditional” level of funding of CDBG in the 2007 budget. Turner said that CDBG must be reformed if it is not to be a budget issue (subject to cuts or elimination) every year. He advised the mayors to develop several recommendations that can enhance or improve the program.

Nelson Bregon, Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) General Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Community Planning and Development also offered remarks about the CDBG program. He said that the CDBG formula is not targeting the allocation of funds to need as it did more than 30 years ago. Acknowledging Turner’s remarks about some of the problems with CDBG, Bregon said that the evaluation of the program has shifted from outputs (of which HUD has data) to outcomes, which are difficult to measure. He thanked the national groups representing local and state elected and appointed officials for working with HUD and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to develop effective measures of outcomes. He said a notice will be published soon that will provide guidance to communities on the collection of information that will demonstrate the effectiveness of CDBG. Bregon also briefed the mayors on the $11.5 billion that will go to the hurricane impacted states. The funds provided through CDBG will be allocated to the states with most of the money going to Louisiana ($6 billion) and Mississippi ($5 billion).

Steve Nesmith, HUD Assistant Secretary for the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations, briefed the committee on the hurricane recovery efforts in the Gulf States. He said that both HUD and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are now moving from recovery to rebuilding efforts. On behalf of HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, Nesmith thanked the mayors for making housing available in their cities to the hurricane victims. While he could not provide details about the Administration’s 2007 budget, Nesmith said that the budget will show a commitment to temporary and long term housing in the hurricane states. He also said that the 2007 budget will continue to call for a “robust effort on Section 8 reform.” The budget will also propose a consolidated homeless plan, reform of the GSEs – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and a homeownership tax credit.

Barbara Duffield, Policy Director for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, briefed the mayors on the need to define homelessness beyond the current definition used by HUD which only looks at people on the streets, and not, for example, families with children who are often doubled up in hotels. Mary Ellen Hombs, Deputy Director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, said that they have met and spoke with seven federal agencies about the definition of homelessness. Currently there are five different definitions of homelessness among federal government agencies. There is a vast area of commonality across the agencies, but there are nuances between agencies and inside specific programs within the agencies to advance mission and program objectives. Hombs said the U.S. Interagency Council’s work on the definition of homelessness will continue, and a full report will be made to mayors later this year.