HUD COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANTS (CDBG) RESTORE FY2016 FUNDING FOR LOCAL DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

BACKGROUND: Urge your members of Congress, especially those serving on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, to fund the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program at $3.3 billion as part of a final fiscal year (FY) 2016 Transportation-HUD (T-HUD) Appropriations measure. NADO supports retaining CDBG formula funds as a flexible, locally driven resource that provide valuable assistance for local community and economic development initiatives, including infrastructure and job creation projects supported by the CDBG State Administered/Small Cities program.

LATEST ACTION: The FY2015 omnibus appropriations bill (P.L. 113-235), enacted in December 2014, provides $3.08 billion for the CDBG program, level funding from FY2014 levels.

On February 2, the president released his FY2016 budget proposal, which includes $2.8 billion for CDBG, a $200 million decrease from the FY2015 enacted level.

KEY TALKING POINTS:

 Funding for the CDBG program should be restored to $3.3 billion in FY2016. The program has faced drastic cuts in recent years, totaling over $1 billion since FY2010. CDBG funding cuts have already contributed to deficit reduction and further cuts will hurt local job creation and economic development investments.

 CDBG is an important tool used by state and local officials as they tackle their most serious community and economic development challenges, such as providing affordable housing, upgrading and building essential public infrastructure and water systems, creating small business development loan funds for local entrepreneurs and industries, and addressing local planning and technical assistance needs.

 At a time when local governments and communities are striving to overcome intensifying global economic competition, upgrade aging public infrastructure, and address the severe housing crisis, it is vital that federal policy makers continue to maintain support for the CDBG program.

 The cornerstone of the CDBG program is its locally driven, flexible, and bottom-up approach. The program provides invaluable resources for 1,180 urban counties and cities to meet locally-identified needs. As required by law, 30 percent of CDBG formula funding is reserved for states to assist rural communities with economic development, infrastructure improvements, and other fundamental building blocks for job creation and economic development.

 State, regional, and local officials use the CDBG program to provide valuable seed capital, gap financing, and core support for a variety of projects. In addition, CDBG funds are typically used to leverage and attract private sector investments. Every CDBG dollar invested in communities is leveraged, on average, by three dollars in private funding, bringing much needed business investments to distressed areas.

For more information, please contact Susan Howard, Legislative Director, at 202.624.8590 / [email protected] or Ted Stiger, Legislative Associate, at 202.624.8467 / [email protected].

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS LEGISLATIVE FACT SHEET: HUD COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM

U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee U.S. House Appropriations Committee

Majority: Majority: Minority: Thad Cochran (R-MS), Full Chair Harold Rogers (R-KY), Full Chair Nita M. Lowey (D-NY), Full Ranking Richard Shelby (R-AL)* Rodney P. Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) (D-OH) Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Robert B. Aderholt (R-AL) Peter J. Visclosky (D-IN) Lamar Alexander (R-TN)* (R-TX) José E. Serrano (D-NY) Susan Collins (R-ME)*, Subcommittee Chair Michael K. Simpson (R-ID) Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT) Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) John Abney Culberson (R-TX)* David E. Price (D-NC)*# Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Ander Crenshaw (R-FL) Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) Mark Kirk (R-IL)* John R. Carter (R-TX) Sam Farr (D-CA) Roy Blunt (R-MO)* (R-CA) Chaka Fattah (D-PA) Jerry Moran (R-KS) (R-OK) Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-GA) John Hoeven (R-ND) Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)*+ (D-CA) John Boozman (R-AR)* Charles W. Dent (R-PA) Michael M. Honda (D-CA) Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)* Tom Graves (R-GA) Betty McCollum (D-MN) Bill Cassidy (R-LA)* Kevin Yoder (R-KS)* (D-NY) James Lankford (R-OK) (R-AR) Tim Ryan (D-OH)* Steve Daines (R-MT)* (R-NE) C.A. (D-MD) Tom Rooney (R-FL) (D-FL) Minority: (R-TN) (D-TX)* (R-WA) (D-ME) Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Full Ranking* David Joyce (R-OH)* Mike Quigley (D-IL)* Patrick Leahy (D-VT) (R-CA) (D-WA) Patty Murray (D-WA)* (R-MD) Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)* Martha Roby (R-AL) Richard Durbin (D-IL)* (R-NV) Jack Reed (D-RI)*, Subcommittee Ranking Chris Stewart (R-UT) Jon Tester (D-MT) Scott Rigell (R-VA) Tom Udall (D-NM) David Jolly (R-FL)* Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) David Young (R-IA)* Jeff Merkley (D-OR) Evan Jenkins (R-WV)* Chris Coons (D-DE)* (R-MS) Brian Schatz (D-HI)*

Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)

Christopher Murphy (D-CT)* +Indicates Chair of the U.S. House Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee

*Indicates Senator serves on the #Indicates Ranking Member of the U.S. House Transportation-HUD Appropriations U.S. Senate Transportation- HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Subcommittee *Indicates Representative serves on the U.S. House Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee