[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 144 (Tuesday, September 17, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H5241-H5242]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         COMMEMORATING COMMUNITY BLOCK GRANT'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Obernolte). The Chair recognizes the 
gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Cleaver) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 50th anniversary 
of the Community Development Block Grant program, known as CDBG, and I 
recognize its tremendous contributions to the viability of American 
communities.
  The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development CDBG program 
provides funding to over 1,200 States, local jurisdictions, and 
ancillary areas across the United States.
  Since the creation of the program in 1975, HUD and Congress have 
invested more than $1.7 billion in job creation, building affordable 
housing, funding disaster recovery efforts, and supporting economic 
development and infrastructure projects, primarily serving low- to 
moderate-income populations.
  Notably, the CDBG program is the most flexible source of Federal 
funding to States, localities, and ancillary areas for economic and 
community development purposes. State and local governments work with 
their local program partners with input from the public to develop 
programs that are initiated, planned, and developed at the local level 
and meet national objectives.
  As a former mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, Missouri's largest 
municipality, I know firsthand the importance of having a flexible 
Federal program that can meet unique local challenges. Due to its 
nature, CDBG is often layered with other HUD funds or used for gap 
financing to add the final necessary funds that make transformative 
community projects viable.
  In 2023, the CDBG program provided funding for housing-related 
activities

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that served nearly 62,000 families, including direct homeownership 
assistance and rehabilitation of homes; assisting more than 25,500 
individuals to find permanent employment or to keep full-time jobs they 
were at risk of losing through economic development activities; 
improvements to homeless facilities that served more than 52,000 
people; and operating costs of homeless and HIV/AIDS patient programs, 
senior services, food banks, services for the disabled, youth services, 
transportation services, and general health or mental health services 
that assisted more that 5.4 million Americans.
  HUD requests that grantees report on leveraged funds as well as 
public-private partnerships to demonstrate local investment. Grantees 
reported that CDBG investments leveraged an average of $5.02 for every 
$1 of CDBG grant funding during 2022, amplifying the program's return 
on investment with $4.9 billion in other resources.
  The 50th anniversary is now an opportunity to commemorate this 
milestone and commit to strengthening the CDBG program with additional 
funding and programming improvements.
  My legislation, the CDBG Improvement Act, would permanently authorize 
the CDBG program, increase funding to offset inflation and account for 
the increase in the number of entitlement jurisdictions since 1974, and 
authorize housing construction as an eligible program activity, among 
other purposes.
  As ranking member of the Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, with 
jurisdiction over the CDBG program, I congratulate the CDBG champions 
and advocates and look forward to working together on this mission.

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