Jefferson City community development program may be eliminated with proposed federal cuts
President Trump’s proposed budget for the 2018 fiscal year could affect programs for lower-income Jefferson City residents.
ABC 17 News has reported that the executive budget released last month would cut more than $6 billion from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. That would eliminate the Community Development Block Grant Program across the country.
It is a program that gives Jefferson City more than $260,000 a year for various projects.
Right now, three different properties in Jefferson City are going through the process to use those federal funds.
Habitat for Humanity wants to use the funds to demolish two dilapidated homes. One is located at 1204 East High Street and the other is at 803 Montana Street.
“They can be considered safety issues, especially with animals getting into them and if there’s holes in the roofs … the structure becomes unsafe and inhabitable,” said Lauren Henry, the city’s neighborhood services specialist. “So it’s important to get those either boarded up or demolished.”
Habitat for Humanity would then build two new homes for low-to-moderate-income families in place of the structures.
Another property owner wishes to use the funding program to bring a home up to code at 1113 Park Avenue.
The community development funds also help low-income families with expenses for day care and transportation passes.
If President Trump’s proposed budget does not change, projects such as these in Jefferson City may have to be eliminated.
But Henry said the city does not have plans to change its program just yet.
“CDBG always seems to be on the chopping block for the federal government every year, and we have always thankfully been the recipients of CDGB funds,” Henry said. “So we are optimistic and hopeful that we will continue to do that. And if they disappear, we’ll just cross that bridge when we get there.”
If the CDBG program is cut, Henry said it would be up to the City Council to decide if any of the program’s projects would continue to be funded through the city’s budget.
