Date

The Honorable

Dear Senator/Congressman:

This letter requests your support on two very important issues for communities across America. First, raising the spending caps that were agreed to in the Balanced Budget Agreement of 1997 and second, raising the funding level of the Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG) to $5 billion and that of the Home Investment Partnerships program (HOME) to $1.8 billion in FY 2000. These two programs have become the life-blood of community development efforts and affordable housing production in our cities, towns and counties. Without these two very important programs, much needed city infrastructure, social services and affordable housing would not be possible. CDBG and HOME work very closely together and with other public and private sector programs. Without raising the spending caps, and with the proposed cuts to function line 450 (Community and Regional Development) in both budget resolutions, affordable housing and community development as we have come to know it will cease to exist.

This year 1999, marks the 25^th anniversary of the CDBG program and the 10^th anniversary of HOME. In recognizing these two milestones, communities, their non-profit service providers, and advocates throughout the nation will be celebrating and reflecting on how the landscape of housing and community development, and the function of city government would be vastly different without the guaranteed funding stream that CDBG and HOME provide.

The City of _________________ applauds Congress for its fiscal responsibility, particularly in addressing the federal deficit. However in economic good times, it is imperative that the federal government do what it can to maintain those good times by providing incentives to improve on what is working. Cuts to a program (CDBG) that leverages at least three private sector dollars to every one federal dollar spent is not the way to go about it. The flexibility of CDBG, with its local determination is what has made the program so popular and so successful. The HOME program is the perfect companion program for CDBG as it allows for more deeply targeting of lower income persons in assuring them safe, decent and affordable housing. Without safe, decent, affordable housing many other initiatives, such as welfare reform efforts are doomed to fail.

Again, I ask your support in raising the spending caps that were agreed to in the Balanced Budget Agreement of 1997 and in raising the funding level of CDBG program to $5 billion and that of the HOME program to $1.8 billion in FY 2000. The proposed cut of $3.5 billion in the budget resolutions and the imposed domestic spending caps for the FY 2000 budget could virtually wipe out the CDBG program. We can't let this happen. Thank you for considering my request.

Respectfully,

Mayor