On May 24, Orange County, N.C. Commissioner Renee Price participated in a Capitol Hill roundtable discussion on protecting two critical community development programs: the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program.  House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and fellow committee members Reps. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) and Emmanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) served as the moderators for the panel discussion, which included Commissioner Price, several city mayors as well as local agencies and non-profit organizations that utilize CDBG and HOME funding.

The CDBG program provides annual grants on a formula basis to nearly 1,200 metropolitan city and county governments and to state governments. There are 185 counties that receive grants directly. Counties utilize the flexibility of CDBG funds to support projects that meet their local priorities in addressing community and economic development, housing, water and infrastructure and human service needs. The HOME program assists state and local governments to provide affordable housing for low-income families, helping to improve the quality of life in local communities. HOME funds are allocated to 650 participating jurisdictions in counties and cities. HOME funds can be used towards the acquisition, reconstruction and rehabilitation of housing.

Ranking Member Waters noted that these programs were proposed for elimination in President Trump’s FY 2018 budget plan and asked panelists to discuss what programs and services such an elimination would impact, as well as how states and localities would fund these programs and services without aid from the federal government.

Commissioner Price, Chair of NACo’s Community, Economic and Workforce Development Steering Committee, discussed how CDBG funds a homeless shelter for men in Orange County, N.C. and provides them with services including health care, skills training and job opportunities. CDBG also funds a summer youth employment program and pairs youth with local businesses to learn skills and potentially earn permanent jobs with these businesses.  Price noted that counties, particularly rural counties, are still dealing with difficult fiscal conditions and would have difficulty funding these critical programs and services without federal assistance.  The CDBG and HOME programs provide the necessary seed money to leverage additional funding from the private and non-profit sectors.

It is essential that counties collect information on CDBG and HOME-funded housing, community and infrastructure projects and begin calculating the county impact if these programs were eliminated in FY 2018. It would also be helpful to invite your members of Congress to see projects supported by CDBG and HOME funding.

Currently, CDBG is funded at $3 billion and HOME at $950 million in the FY 2017 omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 244).

Click here for the archived webcast of this roundtable discussion.

NACo Resources

• Click here to view NACo CDBG Policy Brief
• Click here to view NACo HOME Policy Brief
• Click here to view the NACo FY 2018 HUD Appropriations Resolutionadopted at the 2017 NACo Legislative Conference.