Abonded homes often become hotspots for crime, gangs, and drugs and add to the

overall blight of the neighborhood.

At a time when neighborhoods across the country are facing a housing crisis, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is reducing the resources needed to combat the problems.

Many of NPA’s neighborhoods are plagued with a lack of affordable rental housing, abandoned buildings, little or no foreclosure prevention tools, and homelessness. Additionally, the Bush administration is cutting funds from the Housing Voucher program and eliminating many of the requirements to ensure that the families that need it most have affordable rental housing.

NPA groups will address their concerns to HUD Secretary Designate Alphonso Jackson in a meeting scheduled for March 29.

One of the main resources that communities can use to combat the lack of affordable housing is the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), a grant that HUD gives to cities to address housing needs. The amount of CDBG money given to a city is based on how many low-income people live there compared to the amount of affordable housing in the area. Cities must spend CDBG money to: 1) benefit lower income families, 2) aid in preventing or eliminating “slums and blight,” or 3) meet an urgent need.

NPA wants HUD to hold cities accountable for how CDBG funds are spent. In many cities, CDBG money is not used to effectively meet the needs of the lowest income communities, and cities often waste this funding on non-essential special projects or administration.

For example, in Kalamazoo, MI, CDBG funds were used to create heated sidewalks, while an estimated 12 percent of the population is homeless. Leaders with the Kalamazoo Housing Action Network of the Michigan Organizing Project are trying to gain support from their city council members to use CDBG money to address the lack of affordable rental housing in the community by creating a housing trust fund.

Other NPA groups have been successful in organizing locally on how CDBG funds are spent. For example, the Organization for a New Eastside (ONE), in Indianapolis, has successfully won a local Home Repair program, funded with CDBG dollars, to keep families in their homes. This program allows homeowners to access the necessary home repairs without going to a predatory mortgage lender.
Cities are currently not required to listen to the suggestions of community residents on how CDBG funds should be spent. Moreover, local victories will be short-lived if the Bush administration’s proposal to focus these dollars in fewer neighborhoods passes.

In addition to changes in the CDBG program, the Bush administration has proposed cutting funds to the Housing Voucher Program by more than $1 billion, with further cuts planned in upcoming years. These cuts could result in approximately 250,000 families losing eligibility from the program.

Additionally, the administration has proposed creating a Flexible Housing Voucher Program, which would allow the local Public Housing Authorities to decide how to run the housing voucher program. Under the Administration’s proposal, there would no longer be requirements to serve the poorest families. Under the current law, 70% of the housing vouchers are required to go to the neediest families. In contrast, the administration’s proposal would abolish this requirement altogether.

The current proposal would eliminate the requirement that only 30 percent of a family's income can be spent on rent under the housing voucher program. The administration proposes to eliminate the ceiling on the percentage of household income that a family with a voucher may be charged for rent.

NPA wants the government to increase the funding for the Housing Voucher Program to ensure that the families currently receiving housing vouchers continue to receive them. NPA also wants to keep the requirements to make sure that the neediest families receive the vouchers.

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