[Budget of the United States Government]
[VI. Investing in the Common Good: Program Performance in Federal Functions]
[20. Community and Regional Development]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


 
                 20.  COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

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                 Table 20-1.  FEDERAL RESOURCES IN SUPPORT OF COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT                
                                            (In millions of dollars)                                            
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                                                                               Estimate                         
               Function 450                   1997   -----------------------------------------------------------
                                             Actual     1998      1999      2000      2001      2002      2003  
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Spending:                                                                                                       
  Discretionary Budget Authority..........    13,034     8,660     9,204     8,011     7,805     7,675     7,816
  Mandatory Outlays:                                                                                            
    Existing law..........................       312      -119      -418      -411       -52      -222      -455
    Proposed legislation..................  ........  ........         3        61       139       162       168
Credit Activity:                                                                                                
  Direct loan disbursements...............     2,192     2,153     1,984     2,278     2,392     2,273     2,299
  Guaranteed loans........................       896     1,828     1,976     2,005     2,229     2,322     2,320
Tax Expenditures:                                                                                               
  Existing law............................     1,365     1,715     1,870     2,030     1,990     1,885     1,730
  Proposed legislation....................  ........  ........        44        19       133       205       196
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  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Federal support for community and regional development helps build the 
Nation's economy, and helps economically distressed urban and rural 
communities earn a larger share of America's prosperity. The Federal 
Government spends over $10 billion a year, and offers about $1.7 billion 
in tax incentives, to help States and localities create jobs and 
economic opportunity, and build infrastructure to support commercial and 
industrial development.
  The needs of States and localities are varied and hard to measure. 
Still, Federal programs have helped create stable, healthy communities 
that offer greater economic opportunity. Communities hard hit by natural 
disasters receive Federal assistance to rebuild infrastructure, 
businesses, and homes. States and localities also use these Federal 
funds to leverage private resources for their community revitalization 
strategies.
  As general goals:
   the Government will help create viable communities and 
          economic empowerment through job creation, provide affordable 
          housing, and promote economic opportunity; and
   the Government will help protect lives and prevent the loss 
          of property from disaster hazards; and minimize suffering and 
          hasten recovery when disasters occur.

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

  HUD provides communities with flexible funds to promote commercial and 
industrial development; enhance infrastructure; clean up abandoned 
industrial sites, or Brownfields; and develop strategies for providing 
affordable housing close to jobs.

  Community Development Block Grant (CDBG): CDBG, for which the budget 
proposes $4.7 billion, provides flexible funds for activities that meet 
one of three national objectives: (1) benefit low- and moderate-income 
persons, (2) help prevent or eliminate slums or blight, or (3) meet 
other urgent community needs that pose immediate threats to public 
health. CDBG funds go to improving housing, public works and services, 
economic develop

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ment, and acquiring or clearing land. Seventy percent of CDBG funds go 
to over 950 central cities and urban counties, the remaining 30 percent 
to States to award to smaller localities. CDBG's Section 108 Loan 
Guarantee Program, along with Economic Development Initiative Grants, 
gives Federal guarantees to private investors who buy debt obligations 
issued by local governments, thus giving communities efficient financing 
for housing rehabilitation, economic development, and large-scale 
physical development projects. The Indian CDBG program focuses mainly on 
public infrastructure, community facilities, and economic development. 
In 1997, 131 Tribes received a total of $67 million in CDBG grants 
through competition.
  HOME: The budget proposes $1.5 billion in flexible grants to States 
and communities to address their most severe housing needs. Eligible 
activities of this program (which is classified in the Income Security 
function) include new construction, rehabilitation, acquisition of 
standard housing, assistance to home buyers, and tenant-based rental 
assistance. From its inception in 1992 through June 1997, the program's 
recipients have committed or used HOME funds to build or rehabilitate 
262,000 housing units and to help 37,000 families pay their rent.
  The 1999 goals for the CDBG and HOME programs include:
   Increasing the number of CDBG grantees who incorporate 
          milestones with timetables in Consolidated Plans that can help 
          demonstrate progress in improving locally defined conditions 
          in their neighborhoods and communities.
   Developing a standardized HUD assessment of Consolidated 
          Plans.
   Ensuring that communities keep HOME rental housing affordable 
          to low-income families during the affordability period that 
          the program requires.
  Also by the end of 1999, HUD will establish baseline measures against 
which to judge the contributions these programs make to community 
development and affordable housing.

  Empowerment Zones (EZs) and Empowerment Communities (ECs): The EZ 
program provides tax incentives and grants to carry out 10-year, 
community-wide strategic plans to revitalize designated areas. In 
December 1994, six urban areas and three rural areas were designated as 
EZs. Two supplemental urban Zones were designated to receive a 
combination of Economic Development Initiative grants, grants, and new 
tax-exempt bond financing. In addition, 65 urban and 30 rural 
communities were designated as ECs. These EZs and ECs have begun to 
leverage resources to attract private investment, generate job growth, 
stimulate business openings and expansions, construct new housing, 
expand homeownership opportunities, and stabilize neighborhoods.
   In 1999, practically all EZs and ECs will show satisfactory 
          progress toward locally defined benchmarks consistent with 
          national policy goals (e.g., increasing employment, improving 
          safety, improving education levels).

Department of Agriculture

  The Agriculture Department (USDA) gives financial assistance to rural 
communities and businesses to boost employment and further diversify the 
rural economy, and the budget proposes $1.5 billion in such assistance. 
The Rural Community Advancement Program's grants, loans, and loan 
guarantees help build rural community facilities, such as health clinics 
and day care centers, and create or expand rural businesses. USDA also 
provides loans through the Intermediary Relending Program (IRP), which 
provides funds to an intermediary such as a State or local government 
that, in turn, provides funds for economic and community development 
projects in rural areas.
   In 1999, USDA will provide 49,000 new jobs, compared to 
          37,000 in 1997, through the IRP and community facilities 
          programs.

Department of the Interior

  The Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) helps Tribes 
manage and generate significant revenues from mineral, agricultural and 
forestry resources; a recent inde

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pendent study estimates that timber harvests, reforestation, pest 
management, and fire control activities provided 49,000 jobs on or near 
reservations. BIA also promotes Tribal and individual self-sufficiency 
by developing Tribal resources and obtaining capital investments. 
Finally, BIA maintains housing for needy Tribal members; over 7,000 
other buildings, including 185 schools and 3,000 housing units for BIA 
and Tribal staff; over 100 high-hazard dams, and (with the 
Transportation Department and State and local governments) about 50,000 
miles of roads and 745 bridges.
   BIA will measure the success of its economic development 
          program by guaranteeing about $35 million in loans to 
          establish, expand, and refinance businesses and boosting their 
          success rate to 91 percent.
   BIA will measure the success of its facilities programs by 
          providing a 60-percent increase in high-priority school 
          repairs and new school construction; its roads program by 
          implementing a maintenance management system and inspections 
          of at least half of all bridges and 80 percent of roads; and 
          its dam safety program by repairing or planning repairs on 
          seven dams and inspecting at least 25 dams.
   BIA will measure the success of its trust programs by 
          implementing or maintaining about 150 Tribal resource 
          management plans, projects, co-management programs, and 
          fishing access sites; supporting 15 irrigation projects; 
          developing 46 million acres for farming and grazing; 
          completing the first phase of a comprehensive environmental 
          audit; funding 20 water rights negotiation teams; and reducing 
          probate and land title backlogs by at least 20 percent.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

  TVA operates an important set of integrated navigation, flood control, 
water supply, and recreation programs that, with TVA's electric power 
program, contributes to the prosperity of the seven-State region it 
serves. The budget provides $77 million for the agency's non-power 
programs, ensuring that they retain funding as the Administration and 
Congress consider alternatives for the agency in both the power and non-
power areas.
   TVA will maximize the number of days the Tennessee River is 
          open to commercial navigation from Knoxville, Tennessee to 
          Paducah, Kentucky, with a 1999 performance target of full 
          availability 93 percent of the time.
   TVA will minimize flood damage by operating the river system 
          with flood control as a priority, maintaining a 1999 target of 
          79 percent of flood storage availability.

Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration (EDA)

  EDA creates jobs and stimulates commercial and industrial growth in 
economically distressed areas--rural and urban areas with high 
unemployment, high poverty rates, or sudden and severe distress. EDA's 
public works grants help build or expand public facilities to stimulate 
and foster industrial and commercial growth, such as industrial parks, 
business incubators, access roads, water and sewer lines, and port and 
terminal developments. EDA, working with State and local governments and 
the private sector, has completed over 40,000 projects, creating or 
retaining over three million private sector jobs. EDA has invested over 
$16 billion in grants and generated over $36 billion in private 
investment. From 1992 to 1997, EDA awarded 1,006 public works grants, 
totaling $975 million, to economically distressed communities to build 
these types of infrastructure projects.
  EDA works with State and local governments, businesses, economic 
development districts, and non-profit organizations to identify and fund 
high-priority projects in the neediest communities. The grants also 
provide technical assistance to communities and firms on problems that 
stifle economic growth. In addition, EDA's economic adjustment 
assistance grants help communities solve severe adjustment problems, 
such as those resulting from natural disasters and industry relocations 
or major downsizings. To date, EDA has provided almost $500 million in 
disaster recovery grants to help speed the recovery of disaster-impacted 
communities Nation-wide.
   In 1999, EDA projects that it will create or retain 22,500 
          jobs directly and 7,500 jobs indirectly, for a total of 30,000 
          jobs.

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Disaster Relief and Insurance

  The Federal Government provides financial help to cover a large share 
of the Nation's losses from natural hazards. In recent years, spending 
from the two major Federal disaster assistance programs--the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund and the Small 
Business Administration's (SBA) Disaster Loan program--has risen 
significantly, largely because demographic and economic growth has been 
great in hurricane- and earthquake-prone areas. The Federal Government 
shares the costs with States for infrastructure rebuilding; makes 
disaster loans to individuals and businesses; and provides grants for 
emergency needs and housing assistance, unemployment assistance, and 
crisis counseling. In addition, the National Flood Insurance Program 
enables property owners to purchase flood insurance that the commercial 
market does not offer. To mitigate future losses, and in exchange for 
flood insurance, communities must adopt and enforce floodplain 
management measures that protect lives and new construction from 
flooding.
  In 1997, FEMA began Project Impact, a national effort to shift the 
focus of emergency management from post-disaster response to pre-
disaster activities that reduce potential future damage. FEMA is 
expanding the program in 1998, and will strive for at least one 
``disaster resistant community'' in each State by the end of 1999. In 
1999, SBA proposes to support FEMA's mitigation project by making 
available disaster loans for small businesses in the targeted 
communities to finance mitigation improvements for permanent or fixed 
business properties.
  FEMA's 1999 goals include:
   Decreasing, by 10 percent, the average time from disaster 
          declaration to Hazard Mitigation Grant Program grant 
          obligation, using the average grant delivery time through 1997 
          as a baseline;
   Completing 12 hurricane evacuation studies and achieving 60 
          percent of the mandated review of community flood map needs; 
          and
   Answering 95 percent of claimant questions on the first call 
          and cutting, in half, disaster claimant transcription time and 
          costs billable to the disaster relief fund.
  SBA's 1999 goals include:
   Increasing the number of disaster loans processed within 21 
          days from 85 percent to 90 percent of applications.
   Increasing the percentage of disasters in which effective 
          field presence is established within three days of a 
          declaration from 85 percent to 90 percent.

Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC)

  Established in 1965, ARC targets its resources to highly distressed 
areas, focusing on critical development issues on a regional scale, and 
making strategic investments that encourage other Federal, State, local 
and private participation and dollars. When compared with ``twin 
counties'' outside the 13-State region, ARC counties have grown 17 times 
faster in private sector employment, seven times faster in population, 
and 34 times faster in per capita income. From 1950 to 1960, before the 
ARC was in place, employment fell 1.5 percent in Appalachia but grew 15 
percent Nation-wide. During the most recent reporting period, 1988 to 
1996, Appalachian employment grew at the national rate of 10.6 percent.
  In 1999:
   As a result of ARC training, 7,500 people will retain or get 
          jobs; and
   ARC will place 100 physicians in the region's health 
          professional shortage areas, to serve another 50,000 patients 
          a year.
  The Administration proposes to apply the proven ARC model to the 
Mississippi Delta Region, an adjoining section with tremendous and wide-
ranging needs, in order to: (1) target the Nation's truly poor; (2) 
provide economic development opportunities in a regional, multi-State 
context; (3) provide flexible assistance to address local economic 
development decision-making; (4) create a partnership that links 
communities, States, and the Federal Government in a coordinated 
response to economic distress; and (5) leverage other resources to 
foster self-sustaining economies. The budget proposes a Delta Region 
Development Program, under the auspices of the

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ARC that would establish the Delta Regional Commission to assist in the 
Region's economic development.

Tax Expenditures

  The Federal Government provides several tax incentives to encourage 
community and regional development activities: (1) tax-exempt bonds for 
airports, docks, high-speed rail facilities, and sports and convention 
facilities (costing $5.6 billion from 1999 to 2003); (2) tax incentives 
for qualifying businesses in economically distressed areas that qualify 
as Empowerment Zones--including an employer wage credit, higher up-front 
deductions for investments in equipment, tax-exempt financing, and 
accelerated depreciation--as well as capital gains preferences for 
certain investments in the District of Columbia and incentives for 
first-time buyers of a principal residence in D.C. (costing $3 billion 
over the five years); (3) a 10-percent investment tax credit for 
rehabilitating buildings that were built before 1936 for non-residential 
purposes (costing $335 million over the five years); (4) tax exemptions 
for qualifying mutual and cooperative telephone and electric companies 
(costing $335 million over the five years); and (5) up-front deductions 
of environmental remediation costs at qualified sites (costing $305 
million over the five years).