ABSTRACT
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)—$4 billion in funding distributed to 1,128 entitlement communities and fifty states in FY2006—in operation since 1974, is the largest federal community development program. Until 2001 or so, CDBG management gave little concern to whether the program actually produced results for communities, citizens, and businesses. Although there had always been considerable anecdotal evidence that CDBG did good things, there was little objective data to substantiate its results. Communities and states—grantees—also showed little interest in demonstrating results (at least to the federal government, many viewing funding as a kind of revenue sharing whereby they could do mostly what they wanted within the broad confines of law). Under the second term of the George W. Bush administration, five separate reengineering initiatives were undertaken to improve CDBG’s performance, some successful, others perhaps not so:
Strengthening America’s Communities Initiative (SACI).
Reengineering the performance measurement system.
Reforming the CDBG allocation formula.
Developing a new management information system (IDIS—Integrated Disbursement and Information System).
Streamlining the Consolidated Plan.
