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Budget Cuts Series: Community Block Grants For After-School Programs, Meals-on-Wheels, Affordable Housing
For over two years, Smart Dissent's Budget Cuts Series has exposed Trump's proposed budget cuts, finding savage proposals hidden beneath the surface. The Trump White House proposed their third budget in mid-March 2019 but it's been insanely hectic since then so our Series has a lot to catch up on during April and May 2019.
In today's Budget Cut Series we're talking about Community Development Block Grants. Let's explain for a second what CDBG funds are:
The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), one of the longest-running programs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, funds local community development activities such as affordable housing, anti-poverty programs, and infrastructure development.
The CDBG program was enacted in 1974 to provide block grant funding for community development programs. The program assists urban, suburban and rural communities to improve housing and living conditions and expand economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income persons. CDBG helps to create jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses and is an important tool for helping local governments tackle serious challenges facing their communities.
Counties use the flexibility of CDBG funds to partner with the private and non-profit sectors to develop and upgrade local housing, water, infrastructure and human services programs. Counties rely on the flexibility of CDBG funds to meet their particular community development needs.
Trump’s budget would completely wipe out community block grants – money that cities across the country use for afterschool programs, public safety, legal aid, affordable housing, & other essential services. They’re gone.
The administration wants to eliminate the Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnerships programs, zero out spending on the national Housing Trust Fund, impose work requirements and triple rents for people who receive housing aid....
The CDBG program has faced drastic cuts in recent years, falling by over $1 billion since FY 2010. CDBG was funded at $3.3 billion in the FY 2019 omnibus appropriations bill.
CDBG funding cuts will hurt local job creation and community development investments.... According to HUD, for every $1 of CDBG funds, an estimated $4.09 is leveraged in non-CDBG funds, and over the last decade, CDBG has created or retained 401,992 economic development related jobs.
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