xxx Federal funds

							•Grants-In-Aid
•Evolution   of Federal Urban Policy
   A federal payment to state or local
    government to perform some specified
    activity
   States and local government usually required
    to match a certain percentage of federal
    funds
   Must adhere to federal program guidelines
   Expanded dramatically in the Great
    Depression
   Categorical grants (88%)
    ◦ (e.g.: Interstate Highway Program)
   Block grants (10%)
    ◦ (e.g: Social Services & Community Development)
   General Revenue sharing (0%)
   Other general assistance (2%)
   Early Public Housing
   Section 8
    ◦ Single most important housing program today
    ◦ Rehabilitation of existing housing units for
      leased public housing
    ◦ With the ending of new unit construction (1984)
      has become a rent supplement program
   Number of homeless increased after 1984
    ◦ Personal behavior remains primary cause
    ◦ Stock of cheap housing declined
   Urban Renewal and Housing Act of 1949
   Commercial Development and the Private
    Sector
   Criticism
    ◦ Created fiefdoms for bankers
    ◦ Effect on individuals being relocated
   Eliminated as Separate Program in 1974
 Activism (1964-1980)
   High point in
    middle 1960’s
    ◦ Desire to assist those
      left behind during
      economic prosperity
      of 1950’s
    ◦ Legacy of an
      assassinated
      president
    ◦ Electoral landslide in
      the 1964 national
      election
    ◦ Texas “Hill Country”
      roots of LBJ
   Two New Cabinet Departments
   Education Act of 1965
   Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
   Fair Housing Act of 1968
   Public Housing Legislation of 1968
   Model Cities Act of 1966
   Richard Nixon: the (first) New Federalism
    ◦ General Revenue Sharing
    ◦ Block Grants
   Jimmy Carter and the Cities
    ◦ Modest activism of the “New Partnership”
    ◦ Economic difficulties constrained funding for
      “New Partnership”
    ◦ Achievements minimal
 Retreat   from Activism
   Reagan’s Urban Legacy
    ◦ Urban enterprise zones
    ◦ Second New Federalism
    ◦ Cutbacks in direct urban programs
   Economic Recession Leads to defeat of
    George H. W. Bush
    ◦ Unemployment most severe among poor
      African-American
    ◦ Again: riots in Los Angeles
   A “New Covenant?”
    ◦ Empowerment Zones
    ◦ Urban Crime Bill of 1994
    ◦ Welfare Reform
   Symbolism of the Clinton approach
    ◦ Empathy with underprivileged
    ◦ Outreach to African-Americans
   Compassionate Conservatism
    ◦   Privatization
    ◦   Entrepreneurialism
    ◦   Conservative cast to social programs
    ◦   Faith-based initiatives
   Reaction to attacks on World Trade Center
    ◦ Office of Homeland security focuses on “first
      responders”
    ◦ Police focus on terrorists and potential terrorists
   Come to grips with widespread decay in
    central cities
   Deal with urban underclass and the
    disproportionate number of minorities in this
    strata
   Problems are national in scope and beyond
    capabilities of any local government
   Pluralism in U.S.A. leads to laundry list of
    programs rather than program with internal
    coherence
   Private sector ideology of the United States
    makes it impossible to develop urban policy
    based on national centralized planning
   Ambivalence toward urban areas
   Problem of targeting allocation of funds
    ◦ Partisan considerations
    ◦ Grantsmanship favors those who know the
      system