Community Development Block Grants: the Case for Reform

Brief Description of the hearing:

The Community Development Block Grant program is a multi-billion dollar public welfare program that has exceptional flexibility compared to most other grant programs. Operated out of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Community Development Block Grants give local officials broad discretion on the use of the funds for housing, economic development activities, social services, and infrastructure.

Critics of Community Development Block Grants argue that while flexibility abounds, the program has insufficient accountability, ambiguous goals, and no standardized outcome indicators. The purpose of his hearing is to review the issues surrounding program formulas, recipient communities, and management of grants within the Community Development Block program. The hearing will also consider aspects of the reform package, the “CDBG Reform Act of 2006,” that was drafted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and recently delivered to Congress.