City Leverages Funds to Improve Neighborhoods

City Leverages Funds to Improve Neighborhoods

by Lance Davis

Grand Junction, Colo. Mayor Bruce Hill likes to use his city as an example of what a small town can accomplish with Community Development Block Grant funds.

Between 1996 and 2004, the city used just over $3 million in Community Development Block Grant funds to leverage more than $24 million in private sector and other funding for programs vital to the city affordable housing, health care, infrastructure, senior citizens programs and more.

In March, Hill, Grand Junction Councilman Harry Butler and City Manager Kelly Arnold attended the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference in Washington, D.C.

As part of the conference, they attended a City Lobby Day meeting with members of their Congressional delegation to discuss the importance of CDBG and how it benefits their city.

I think they (Congress) are getting the message, Hill said of the meeting he, Butler and Arnold attended with Colorado Rep. John Salazar (D) and Sen. Wayne Allard (R). I did feel like Congress is working to help preserve CDBG, but the fight isnt over yet. We have to continually be in front of them and give them good examples of how these funds are used by cities.

Like many city officials, Grand Junctions leaders are wondering what will happen to the community development initiatives they have championed for years if Congress decides to follow President Bushs budget proposal, which would combine CDBG with 17 other grant programs, slash its funding and move it to the Department of Commerce.

Since 1974, CDBG has been administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Local officials across the nation hail it as a model in reviving decaying urban centers, renovating suburban and rural housing and providing services for low and moderate income people that cant be replicated solely at the local level.

During the Congressional City Conference, hundreds of local elected officials took NLCs message, No cuts and no move, to their House and Senate members. The effort scored a victory in the Senate with the passage on March 17 of an amendment introduced by Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) to restore $1.9 billion to CDBG and keep it a separate program in HUD.

In Grand Junction, CDBG is helping alleviate a shortage of affordable housing, most notably with two projects currently under development the Linden Pointe and Garden Village apartment complexes.

According to the 2002 Housing Needs Assessment, Grand Junction is short 1,080 rental housing units and 589 home ownership units. This year, the housing shortage is expected to increase another 1,009 units.

Linden Pointe will add 92 multi-family rental units by May 1. Linden Pointe is located near schools, retail stores, a city park and public transportation. Land in Linden Pointe has been set aside for the addition of a child-care facility.

The $11.4 million project is being built with $377,170 in CDBG funds and $1.4 million in public funding. The rest comes from the private sector.

Housing Resources of Western Colorado is helping preserve existing rental housing in Grand Junction with the acquisition and renovation of Garden Village Apartments. The target population for the apartments is families that qualify for Section 8 vouchers.

The total cost of the Garden Village project, including acquisition, was $5.3 million. A $200,000 CDBG grant and $1.3 million in public funds leveraged the remaining balance.

Other programs funded by Grand Junctions CDBG allotment include:

Meals on WheelsCatholic outreach servicesInfrastructure upgradesHealth clinicsSchool repairs and upgradesHomeless shelters

In total, since 1996 Grand Junction has used just more than $3.2 million in CDBG funding to leverage more than $24 million in funding from the private sector.

If Grand Junction lost its CDBG funding, Hill said the city would continue to try to provide similar services, but it would be difficult.

The reality is that CDBG dollars are focused on these programs, and we make sure the money goes to them, said Hill. We could continue to provide some of these programs without CDBG, but not all of them. CDBG dollars are an enhancement to what we can do, and they allow us to leverage other dollars into programs that do good for our community, and we couldnt do that without them.

For more information on CDBG funding, visit: http://www.nlc.org/advocating_for_cities/legislative_activities/2212.cfm

Source: National League of Cities (NLC).