#census-data

$77.8 million in CDBG for NJ $25 million in HOME Funds

In mid-December, Mercedes Márquez, HUD Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development (CPD) , sent a memo to every jurisdiction receiving CDBG and HOME formula-based grants. The memo provides jurisdictions with preliminary estimates of the amount of CDBG and HOME they might receive in FY12.

Click here for the proposed HOME and CDBG allocations for NJ.

FY12 is the first year that the formulas, which determine the amount of CDBG and HOME funds jurisdictions are to receive, will be based data from the annual American Community Survey (ACS), as well as from the 2010 decennial census. Please see below for links to spreadsheets that estimate the percentage change in CDBG and HOME formula allocations for each jurisdiction attributed to the use of ACS.

Because formula allocations of Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) are based on the prior year’s CDBG formula allocation, ESG grantees will not be impacted until FY13.

Congressional FY12 appropriations for CDBG and HOME were reduced by 11% and 38%, respectively. A third spreadsheet linked to below shows the estimated combined effect of the reduced appropriations and the new census data. These figures are just preliminary estimates, and that formal notification of actual formula grant amounts will be provided later.

The CDBG program has two formulas rooted in statute. Jurisdictions receive an amount based on the formula that is most favorable to them.

Formula A has three factors: the extent of poverty, with a weight of 2; the extent of housing overcrowding, with a weight of 1; and total population, with a weight of 1.

Formula B also has three factors: the age of the housing stock, with a weight of 2.5; the extent of poverty, with a weight of 1.5; and the extent of the lag in population growth, with a weight of 1. In short, the more poor people live in a jurisdiction, and the worse the housing stock, the more CDBG funds a jurisdiction receives.

The HOME statute called on HUD to devise a formula and provided general guidance. HUD’s formula has six factors.

Four factors have a weight of 0.2: number of households in poverty; occupied rental units with at least one housing problem, such as paying more than 30% of income for rent; rental units built before 1950 and occupied by poor households; and a measure of the cost of rehabilitating rental housing that has housing problems.

The two other factors have a weight of 0.1: vacancy-adjusted rental units with a household head in poverty, and population multiplied by net per capita income.

Click here for a new CPD webpage.

Click here for Mercedes Márquez’s memo.

Click here for a spreadsheet estimating CDBG formula changes for each jurisdiction due to the use of ACS data.   Click here for a spreadsheet estimating HOME formula changes for each participating jurisdiction due to the use of ACS data.

Click here for the spreadsheet estimating grant allocations for both CDBG and HOME due to FY12 appropriations in combination with the ACS data.

Click here for Monarch’s previous article on the HUD FY 12 approprations.

High Poverty in U.S. Continues Receiving Coverage

On Tuesday, September 13, 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual report, "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010.” That data shows that, nationally, the official poverty rate increased for the third consecutive year to 15%. This trend of increasing poverty continues to get coverage in the news.

In The New York Times’ article, "‘Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on ‘Lost Decade’” covers the release of the report and unfortunately, predicts that:

This year is not likely to be any better, economists said. Stimulus money has largely ended, and state and local governments have made deep cuts to staff and to budgets for social programs, both likely to move economically fragile families closer to poverty.

Click here to read the full article.

And The Times article September 15, 2011 article, “Poor Are Still Getting Poorer, but Downturn’s Punch Varies, Census Data Show,” makes the case for how critical some government programs have been in keeping the poor from becoming poorer:

About 20.5 million people are in deep poverty, with food stamps increasingly replacing cash aid as the safety net of last resort. More than 45 million people get food stamps, an increase of 64 percent since January 2008. About one in eight Americans, and one in four children, receives aid. Using an alternative definition of income, the Census Bureau found that food stamps lifted 3.9 million people above the poverty line.

Click here to read the full story.

Also, on September 15, The Star Ledger ran an editorial, “U.S. Census Report on Poverty Should Send Message: Hands Off the Safety Net,” makes a strong case for how critical government assistance programs have been in keeping the poverty rates from growing even higher over the past few years. Quoting from the opinion piece:

President Obama and the congressional super-committee tasked with deficit reduction have to protect families on the lowest rung of the economic ladder. Bash big government all you want, especially when it indulges in wasteful spending and earmarks for bridges to nowhere. But this is where government gets it right, big time. The safety net works.

Click here to read the full editorial.

Click here for previous coverage of this news story on Monarch’s website that includes a New Jersey perspective.

How to Use the New Poverty and Health Insurance Data

Webinar: Thursday, September 8, 1:00 p.m. 2:15 p.m. Eastern time

Register Today!

On September 13, the Census Bureau will publish its annual survey of poverty, income, and health insurance coverage, including national and some state data for 2010. Then on September 22 a wealth of state and local Census survey data will be released. Last year, we learned the number of poor people shot up by 7.1 million from 2006 to 2009, that the number of people with private health coverage continued to plummet, and that one-third of our nation were either poor or near poor. Few expect improvement this year.

This new data should wake us to the need to rebuild our economy and protect our people. It’s hard to think of a time when the nation’s needs and the decision-makers’ nostrums were farther apart. The facts of September can help build the demand for real solutions.

Presenters:

Arloc Sherman, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: He has decades of experience mining Census data to reveal powerful truths about the impact of poverty.

Deborah Weinstein, Coalition on Human Needs: Census data jockey who will guide you straight to the data you need.

How this webinar can help you:

Show you how to get your state’s poverty and health insurance data as soon as it comes out, so you can comment to the press in time for the first coverage and help to shape the public’s understanding of what it means.

Prepare press releases, blogs, letters to the editor, and other press pieces to tie the findings to their policy implications (protect Medicaid, SNAP/food stamps, unemployment insurance, etc.)

Keep you up to date on the federal budget threats (lots) and opportunities (well, some) the new data relate to.

Give you the opportunity to ask questions during the webinar and to get follow-up help when the data are released.