IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 621 

Recognizing the community development block grant program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and its role as the Nation’s 

largest and most visible source of financial assistance to support Stateand local government-directed neighborhood revitalization, housing rehabilitation, and economic development activities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 3, 2007 

Ms. WATERS submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the community development block grant program 

of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 

and its role as the Nation’s largest and most visible 

source of financial assistance to support State- and local 

government-directed neighborhood revitalization, housing 

rehabilitation, and economic development activities. 

Whereas the community development block grant program 

(known as the CDBG program) was established by title 

I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 

1974; 

Whereas the Congress has required that each State and entitlement community receiving CDBG funds allocate 70 


cnoel on PRODPC75 with BILLS
2 

•HRES 621 IH 

percent of such funds to activities that primarily benefit 

low- and moderate-income persons; 

Whereas in 2005— 

(1) there were 37,000,000 people in the United 

States living in poverty; 

(2) the poverty rate (the percentage of the total population of the United States living in poverty) was 12.6 

percent, but the poverty rate for African-Americans was 

24.9 percent (9,200,000 persons) and for Hispanics was 

21.8 percent (9,400,000 persons); 

(3) 12,300,000 children (17.1 percent) were living in 

poverty; and 

(4) the poverty rate of persons 65 years of age or 

older was 10.1 percent (3,600,000 persons); 

Whereas the incidence of poverty is more highly concentrated 

in some areas of the United States than in others; within 

metropolitan areas, the incidence of poverty in central 

city areas is about twice as high as in suburban areas, 

17.0 percent compared to 9.3 percent, respectively, in 

2005; 

Whereas the CDBG program has been responsible for eliminating and preventing slums and blight and for reducing 

poverty and crime in our Nation’s communities; 

Whereas the CDBG program has met urgent community development needs where existing conditions posed a serious or immediate threat to the public; 

Whereas the CDBG program has been used to meet the ‘‘urgent threat’’ resulting from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita; 

Whereas despite a decline in funding for the CDBG program 

from $4,400,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 to 

$3,700,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, thereby placing a 


cnoel on PRODPC75 with BILLS
3 

•HRES 621 IH 

major burden on communities with high incidences of 

poverty to utilize CDBG funds to meet the needs of lowand moderate-income persons, it is particularly important 

that States and entitlement communities receiving CDBG 

funds continue to fund projects that alleviate poverty; 

and 

Whereas funds provided by the CDBG program are essential 

to States and entitlement communities for carrying out 

activities that reduce poverty, yet in the past two years 

more than 5,000,000 low- and moderate-income persons 

have been adversely impacted by significant reductions in 

services as a result of cuts in CDBG funding: Now therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) fully supports the goals of the community 

3 development block grant program of the Department 

4 of Housing and Urban Development; 

5 (2) recognizes the importance of the community 

6 development block grant program in reducing pov7 erty and strengthening communities in the United 

8 States; and 

9 (3) as part of the Congress’s dedication to con10 tinued efforts on the part of States and entitlement 

11 communities to make further reductions in poverty, 

12 strongly urges such entities to review their alloca13 tions of CDBG funds to ensure that special emphaVerDate Aug 31 2005 07:09 Aug 05, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR621.IH HR621

cnoel on PRODPC75 with BILLS
4 

•HRES 621 IH 

1 sis is placed on using such funds to eliminate pov2 erty. 

Æ 


cnoel on PRODPC75 with BILLS