Drug Elimination Grants for Low-income Housing

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

NA = Not Applicable

SUMMARY OF BUDGET ESTIMATES

1. SUMMARY OF BUDGET REQUEST

   The Budget requests $310 million for the Drug Elimination Grants (DEG) for Low-Income Housing program in fiscal year 2000. This funding will support efforts designed to reduce crime in public housing, restore safety, and build better communities. Included in this request is approximately $143.8 million for Public Housing Authorities and Indian Housing Authorities (HAs) grants for their anti-drug, anti-crime efforts and clearinghouse information services, $100 million for the new Youth Anti-Drug Diversion program, $20 million for Operation Safe Home, $20 million for New Approach Anti-Drug program, $16.2 million for Federally assisted low-income housing grants, and up to $10 million for technical assistance and program oversight. The latter amount includes up to $250,000 for related travel expenses for HUD staff providing on-site technical assistance. $25 million in Youthbuild funds will be awarded in conjunction with the Youth-Anti-Drug Diversion program to neighborhoods with concentrations of public and Federally assisted housing.

2. CHANGES FROM 1998 ESTIMATES INCLUDED IN 1999 BUDGET

   Fiscal year 1998 obligations were $248 million. This is $334 million less than the 1998 estimate of $582 million projected in the fiscal year 1999 Budget. The process of reviewing, rating, and ranking the large volume of applications received in 1998 caused awards to be made late in the fiscal year, which contributed to reduced obligations in 1998. Fiscal year 1998 Actual outlays were $7 million lower than projected in the 1999 Budget.

3. CHANGES FROM 1999 ESTIMATES INCLUDED IN 1999 BUDGET

   The current budget authority estimate for fiscal year 1999 includes $335 million of carryover from fiscal year 1998. The current estimate for fiscal year 1999 outlays is $273.8 million, which is slightly higher than previously estimated in the fiscal year 1999 Budget.

The fiscal year 2000 request for budget authority is the same level of funding as the fiscal year 1999 appropriation. Outlays are expected to be $326.4 million in fiscal year 2000 which is $53 million higher than the current 1999 estimate. This increase is attributed to the increased appropriation for 1998 and the large carryover from fiscal year 1998 into fiscal year 1999.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Drug Elimination Grants for Low-Income Housing program, authorized since 1988, provides funds to HAs for anti-drug, anti-crime efforts. Staff and residents use these resources to increase police coverage and security to fight the concentration of crime in and around public housing, as well as to provide alternative activities to residents. Eligible activities include reimbursement of local law enforcement for additional services, security contracts, investigators, and training residents for volunteer resident programs. Recent appropriations acts have expanded the use of funding to include patrols, physical changes to enhance security, drug prevention, intervention and treatment strategies, allowing HAs greater scope in targeting crime and developing successful alternatives. The Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 (the Act) permanently broadens eligible activities to include "drug-related or violent crime in and around" public or assisted housing.

Funds for drug elimination programs have been used to assist in implementing the Administration's goals under the National Drug Control Strategy. In support of this Strategy, HUD's Drug Elimination Grants program provides funds to support the following goals:

Goal 1: Educate and enable America's youth to reject illegal drugs;

Goal 2: Increase the safety of America's citizen by substantially reducing drug-related crime and violence; and

Goal 3: Reduce the health and social costs to the public of illegal drug use.

Consistent with provisions in the Act, two new program initiatives will be implemented by the Department in fiscal year 2000: (1) funding will be distributed by formula rather than the competitive application process that has been used to date. The formula distribution is expected to reduce the administrative burden for both HAs and the Department; and (2) grants will be awarded as 1-year renewables through a fixed funding mechanism. The renewable grants will provide grantees with the ability to address community needs with greater assurance of a continued funding stream. They will also allow grantees to more comprehensively implement long-range prevention and diversion programs and activities, and reduce the burden of annual competitions.

A description of fiscal year 2000 activities follows:

a. Drug Elimination Grants/Clearinghouse Services: $143.8 million

• Funds will be allocated by formula to local agencies with the most severe crime problems and with demonstrated long-term strategies to reduce crime. Based on past experience, HAs have divided their funding among the following activities: prevention (37 percent); law enforcement (33 percent); security guards (10 percent); treatment and other costs (8 percent); intervention (5 percent); investigators (3 percent); tenant patrols (2 percent); and physical improvements (2 percent). For fiscal year 2000, it is anticipated that 67 percent of the funding awarded will be spent on law enforcement and prevention activities.

Funding will focus on the following activities:

• Enforcement support will be expanded through the reimbursement of local law enforcement agencies, and funding of additional security and protective services. Contracts will be negotiated at the local level among city officials, police departments, housing authority security staff, and residents for the provision of enforcement and security services. All enforcement/security personnel must meet minimum training, licensing and certification standards.

• Community policing has been an effective tactic in gaining control in crime-ridden neighborhoods. The provision of police officers to specific neighborhoods on a consistent basis builds relationships with residents and fosters information exchange; thereby, contributing to a reduction in crime. Foot or bicycle patrols, police substations in public housing, community-relations officers and other techniques which put the officer in more direct contact with the community have demonstrated results in reducing crime.

• Crime prevention efforts will include residents as the focal point of services and as participants in crime solutions. Activities may include resident patrols, neighborhood watches or other crime prevention efforts. Efforts will be made for the training and employment of residents in appropriate enforcement and prevention activities.

• Youth initiatives will recognize youth as an essential resource in solving community problems. Their enlistment can, in itself, be good prevention programming. Youth can participate as coaches in recreational programs, peer mentors and leaders in community solution action planning. More emphasis will be placed on training, education, recreation, career planning, employment, substance abuse education and prevention. Youth programming should provide the opportunities, skills and information needed for youth to make appropriate life style choices and offer a deterrence to gang activity.

• Sports programs and sports activities that serve youths primarily from public or other Federally assisted low-income housing projects and are operated in conjunction with, or in furtherance of, an organized program or plan designed to reduce or eliminate drugs and drug-related problems in and around such projects.

• Resident services programs provide comprehensive resident services to effectively intervene and prevent crime activities in public housing populations. Services may include job training, educational programs, treatment or other appropriate social services to address the factors contributing to crime.

• Clearinghouse services provide information on effective program implementation.

• Prevention, intervention and treatment focuses on approaches designed to address the total needs of housing communities. Efforts in this area will concentrate on building strong partnerships and combining community resources to deal with current problems while developing long-term strategies to prevent problems from reoccurring.

b. Youth Anti-Drug Diversion Program: $100 million

Funding for this new initiative will focus on the following activities:

• Mentoring programs provide youth with positive role models and adult support as they make the transition to and through adolescence (e.g., the Boys and Girls Club of America).

• After School programs to provide youth with positive alternatives to delinquency, gang involvement, violence and substance abuse through education or vocational employment opportunities.

• Family Strengthening programs provide crisis intervention and follow-up case management for families with children in the juvenile justice system and for families with youth identified as at risk because of truancy, substance abuse, and family violence. These programs also provide: (1) intensive supervision and aftercare; and (2) treatment programs, including skill building counseling programs focused on employment training and job placement.

c. Operation Safe Home: $20 million

Operation Safe Home, administered by the Department's Office of the Inspector General, is an effort to combat violent crime in public and assisted housing. Operation Safe Home brings together a coalition of forces to combat criminal and gang activity in public housing. Residents, managers and various Federal and local law enforcement agencies work together to find, fight, and rid the community of crime. Before Operation Safe Home was started in early 1994, the lack of coordination among these groups undermined effective crime prevention.

d. New Approach Anti-Drug Program: $20 million

The new Approach Anti-Drug program, initially funded by Congress in 1998, will provide the following: Competitive grants to entities managing or operating public housing developments, federally assisted multifamily housing developments for low-income families supported by non-Federal governmental entities or similar housing developments supported by nonprofit private sources. The grants may be used to provide or augment security (including the cost of personnel), to assist in the investigation and/or prosecution of drug-related criminal activity in and around such developments, and to provide assistance for the development of capital improvements at such developments directly related to the security of such developments.

e. Other Program Initiatives: $26.2 million

1. Federally assisted low-income housing grants: $16.2 million

   These are drug elimination grants that are specifically targeted to housing developments that are FHA-insured and receive some form of assistance under the U.S. Housing Act of 1937.

2. Program Assessment and Technical Assistance: $10 million

Assessment and Evaluation. The Department has entered into an Interagency Agreement (IAA) with the Department of Justice (DOJ) for an evaluation of the DEG program. The Department of Justice (DOJ) will conduct a series of locally initiated evaluations of the PHDEP and develop a Reporting and Information System for measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of DEG.

Technical Assistance and Training. The role of HUD is to provide support that fosters creativity and reinforces success in the Drug Elimination Grants Program.

Ten years of experience in administering the DEG has provided the Department expertise in identifying program elements that place both program administration and overall crime-reduction goals at risk. The Department's goals are to develop training and technical assistance (TA) programs that reduce program risk; increase overall grantee performance in anti-drug, anti-crime efforts; and develop strategies to evaluate the DEG program.

In addition to program experience, the Department has also conferred with public and Indian housing staff and residents and local community leaders in several technical assistance and training sessions. Between October 1996 and April 1998, the Office of Community Safety and Conservation has facilitated a series of "One Strike and You're Out" training conferences. These conferences have provided the opportunity for extensive feedback from public housing and local communities on issues of drugs and crime in public housing.

Funding for technical assistance and training in fiscal year 2000 will:

• provide local communities with more useful tools for developing anti-drug, anti-crime partnerships and comprehensive strategies;

• provide HUD, HA staff, and residents with the tools necessary for developing anti-drug, anti-crime program measurements for reporting the outcomes of the program objectives in a valid and consistent manner;

• develop tools, TA and training to assist HAs in capturing information on index crimes, as well as crimes that are not included in determining crime rates;

• develop tools, TA and training to assist HAs in using crime data and comprehensive strategies to establish Service Level Objectives (SLOs) to reduce the incidence of crime and increase police visibility within public and Indian housing properties;

• ensure HUD participation in the dissemination of information on partnerships, comprehensive strategies, crime data, and other anti-drug, anti-crime issues; and

• broaden the anticipated audience to include HUD staff, housing authority staff and residents, police chiefs, Federal law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, social service providers, local government officials, and private sector representatives.

FISCAL YEAR 2000 PERFORMANCE MEASURES

The majority of DEG grantees' performance has historically been measured under the Public Housing Management Assessment Program (PHMAP), a program which has included a security indicator that tracks crime related problems. However, PHMAP is being replaced and a new Performance Measure for the DEG program is being developed.

Under an agreement between the Department and DOJ's National Institute of Justice, an assessment is currently being conducted of the DEG program reporting requirements. Subsequently, a component will be developed of a standard semiannual reporting form which will be used to measure crime/drug reduction. The new reporting form is expected to be in place for all fiscal year 1999 DEG grantees, permitting baseline data to be collected during fiscal year 2000. The new performance measure for the DEG program will be available in fiscal year 2001.