The Trump administration will slash more than $6 billion in funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and eliminate community development grants, according to a budget outline obtained by The Washington Post.

The Office of Management and Budget’s “blueprint” for 2018 puts HUD’s funding at $40.7 billion, down from $46.9 billion in 2017, representing a cut of 13.2 percent. The funding levels detailed in the OMB’s blueprint closely match preliminary numbers The Post first reported last week.

Throughout the OMB budget outline, the administration emphasizes its belief that local governments should be the ones primarily responsible for urban-development programs.

“State and local governments are better positioned to serve their communities based on local needs and priorities,” the budget document says.

The budget proposal would eliminate funding for the Community Development Block Grant program, which supports a wide range of urban-renewal projects and received $3 billion in funding for 2017. The decades-old grant program has been used to fund such projects as the Lafitte Greenway in New Orleans and to support Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts.

Source: Washington Post

Full Article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-budget-asks-for-6-billion-in-hud-cuts-drops-development-grants/2017/03/15/1b157338-09a0-11e7-b77c-0047d15a24e0_story.html?utm_term=.e06f4cc128e7