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HUD's 2001 Budget
Congressional Justifications for Estimates
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
PUBLIC AND INDIAN HOUSING
DRUG ELIMINATION GRANTS FOR LOW-INCOME HOUSING
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
SUMMARY OF BUDGET ESTIMATES
- SUMMARY OF BUDGET REQUEST
The Budget requests $345 million for the Public Housing Drug Elimination Grants Program (PHDEP) in fiscal year 2001. These funds will support efforts designed to reduce crime in public housing, restore safety, and build better communities. Included in this request is approximately $248.8 million for grants to Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs) for anti-drug and anti-crime efforts, and clearinghouse information services.
The Budget request includes $20 million for Operation Safe Home, $20 million for the 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. The request also includes $30 million for the new Community Gun Safety and Violence Reduction Initiative.
Summary Of Program Strategic Objectives
The Public Housing Drug Elimination Program supports HUD's strategic goal 3: promote self-sufficiency and asset development of families and individuals. Drug Elimination funding also supports HUD's strategic goal 4: improve community quality of life and economic vitality and specifically objective 4.3 - keeping communities and neighborhoods safe.
Funds for drug elimination programs have been used to assist in the implementation of the Administration's goals under the National Drug Control Strategy, as follows:
Goal 1: Educate and enable America's youth to reject illegal drugs;
Goal 2: Increase the safety of America's citizens by substantially reducing drug-related crime and violence; and
Goal 3: Reduce the health and social costs of illegal drug use to the public.
- CHANGES FROM 1999 ESTIMATES INCLUDED IN 2000 BUDGET
A comparison of fiscal year 1999 actual data with estimates included in the fiscal year 2000 Budget follows:
FISCAL YEAR 1999
- CHANGES FROM 2000 ESTIMATES INCLUDED IN 2000 BUDGET
Actual obligations for fiscal year 1999 were $305.5 million less than the estimate projected in the 2000 Budget. Beginning in fiscal year 1999, for the first time, the drug grant funds were awarded based on the newly implemented formula process. The change to the new process required additional time which caused the grant awards to be processed in September 1999, which contributed to reduced obligations in 1999. Actual outlays were $9.5 million higher than the estimate projected in the 2000 Budget.
FISCAL YEAR 2000
Obligations in fiscal year 2000 are estimated to increase by $321.9 million more than was estimated in the 2000 Budget. This increase is the direct result of funds carried over from 1999. However, the $321.8 million of grant awards that were carried over from 1999, were obligated during the first quarter of fiscal year 2000.
EXPLANATION OF INCREASES AND DECREASES
The fiscal year 2001 request for $345 million in budget authority is $35 million higher than the fiscal year 2000 enacted level. Outlays are estimated to be $315 million in fiscal year 2001, which is $10 million lower than the fiscal year 2000 current estimate of $325 million. The decrease in outlays reflect the change from a 3-year spendout of funds to a 4-year spendout which is based on actual experiences of disbursements of obligated funds over the past several years.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Drug Elimination Grants for Low-Income Housing program, authorized since 1988, provides funds to public and Tribal housing residents for anti-drug and anti-crime efforts. HA 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. Such activities include reimbursement of local law enforcement for the provision of services above baseline, security contracts, investigators, youth prevention programs, and training residents for volunteer resident programs. Recent appropriations acts have expanded the use of funding to include patrols, and physical changes to enhance security, drug prevention, intervention and treatment strategies, which broaden the ability of HAs to target crime, and the development of successful alternatives.
Consistent with provisions in the Public Housing Reform Act of 1998, the Department's transition to a distribution of grant funds by formula commencing in fiscal year 1999 is expected to reduce the administrative burden for both HAs and the Department. The formula provides a more timely, predictable and equitable allocation of PHDEP funds, which lends itself to improved program quality, effectiveness and accountability. Eligible applicants for PHDEP funding include: Public Housing Authorities (HAs), Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs), Resident Management Corporations (RMCs), or a consortium of Housing Authorities. Federally assisted low-income housing grants, however, will still be distributed on a competitive basis.
Grants are awarded as "1-year" renewables up to 4 additional years through a fixed funding mechanism. Renewable grants provide grantees with the ability to respond to community needs with greater assurance of a continued funding stream. They also allow grantees to more comprehensively implement long-range prevention and diversion programs and activities.
The PHDEP funds will be distributed to HAs, RMCs and consortia of HAs who are eligible for funding based on: (1) successfully competing for PHDEP funding in either fiscal years 1996, 1997, or 1998, and (2) receiving an application score of at least 70, but not funded in either fiscal years 1996, 1997, or 1998, or (3) being in the top 50 percent of the unit-weighted distribution of an index of a rolling average rate of violent crimes of the community. Consortium applicants (two or more) may join together and apply for funding, regardless of whether each member would qualify individually for PHDEP funding under (1), (2) or (3) above. Rulemaking to establish this formula was completed in fiscal year 1999.
A description of fiscal year 2001 activities follows:
- Drug Elimination Grants/Clearinghouse Services: $248.8 million
- Funds are distributed on a formula basis to local agencies as described above. Based on past experience, HAs have traditionally divided their funding among the following activities: prevention (37 percent); law enforcement (28 percent); security guards (13 percent); treatment and other costs (8 percent); intervention (6 percent); investigators (3 percent); tenant patrols (2 percent); and physical improvements (3 percent). For fiscal year 2001, it is anticipated that approximately 65 percent of the funding awarded will be spent on law enforcement and prevention activities.
Funding will focus on the following activities:
- Enforcement Support and Community Policing 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. The assignment 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 positive results in reducing crime.
- Crime Prevention 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 targeted to training and employment of residents in appropriate enforcement and prevention activities. Educational programs for residents will be developed to highlight the National Drug Control Strategy and strengthen the national media campaign targeting youth.
- Youth Initiatives promote youth as an essential resource in solving community problems. Their enlistment can, in itself, be good prevention programming. Older 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 is expected to provide opportunities, skills, and information needed for youth to make appropriate life style choices and offer a deterrence to gang activity. Programs and activities that serve primarily youth 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 among public housing populations. Services may include job training, educational programs, or other appropriate social services to address factors contributing to crime.
- Prevention, Intervention and Treatment focuses on approaches designed to address the holistic 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.
- Operation Safe Home: $20 million
Operation Safe Home, administered by the Department's Office of the Inspector General, directs resources 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, combat, 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.
- New Approach Anti-Drug program: $20 million
The New Approach Anti-Drug program, initially funded by Congress in 1998, provides 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 security.
- Community Gun Safety and Violence Reduction: $30 million
The Community Gun Safety and Violence Reduction Initiative will fund public community-based education programs that will use a variety of media to address the hazards posed by the presence of firearms in the community as well as actions associated with responsible gun ownership. The Initiative will also provide technical assistance and matching funds to implement gun violence reduction programs, building upon or complementing existing community safety programs where they exist. Finally, the Initiative will fund state-of-the-art computerized gun violence tracking to close the knowledge gap and assist communities and law enforcement agencies in planning gun violence reduction initiatives. An evaluation of the program will be included.
- Other Program Initiatives: $26.2 million
- Federally assisted low-income housing grants: $16.2 million
These drug elimination grants are specifically targeted to housing developments that are FHA insured and receive some form of assistance under the U.S. Housing Act of 1937.
- Program Assessment and Technical Assistance: $10 million
Assessment and Evaluation. The Department maintains an Inter-agency Agreement (IAA) with the Department of Justice (DOJ) for an evaluation of the PHDEP program. DOJ established a program of seven locally initiated, research partnerships with local public and Tribal housing authorities, universities, and other organizations. DOJ awarded the seven grants to conduct a series of locally initiated evaluations of the PHDEP and develop a reporting and information system for measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of PHDEP. DOJ is currently in the process of doing site visits to determine the effectiveness of the locally based partnership arrangements.
Technical Assistance and Training. The Department's role is to provide support that fosters creativity and reinforces program success. 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 program evaluation strategies.
Through a revised regulation on "One-Strike Screening and Eviction for Drug Abuse and Other Criminal Activity," the regulations for the public housing and Section 8 assisted housing programs, and for other HUD assisted housing programs will be amended. Recent amendments to the statute authorizing the public housing and Section 8 programs give Public Housing Agencies and assisted housing owners the tools for adopting and implementing fair, effective, and comprehensive policies for denying admission to applicants who engage in illegal drug use or other criminal activity and for evicting or terminating assistance of persons who engage in such activity.
Funding for technical assistance and training in fiscal year 2001 will:
- provide local communities with more useful tools for developing anti-drug, anti-crime partnerships and comprehensive strategies;
- provide HUD, PHA staff, and residents with the information necessary for developing anti-drug, anti-crime program measurements for reporting the outcomes of the program objectives in a valid and consistent manner;
- develop plans, TA and training to assist HAs in capturing data on the uniform crime index, 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 (through product development) in the dissemination of information on partnerships, comprehensive strategies, crime data, and other anti-drug, anti-crime issues; and
- broaden partnerships and 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.
PERFORMANCE INDICATOR:
The share of Housing Authorities with PHDEP grants who achieve their crime reduction goals increases. Baseline and goal to be developed in fiscal year 2000.
Comments: Under an Interagency agreement between HUD and the Department of Justice (DOJ) National Institute of Justice, an assessment was conducted of the PHDEP program reporting requirements. A component was developed to measure and assess the performance of PHDEP grants through a semi-annual performance reporting system which will be used to measure crime/drug reduction among formula grant recipients. Since July 1, 1999, all grantees under the Public Housing Drug Elimination Program (PHDEP) are required to submit their reports electronically, using a new, Internet-based reporting system. This new system replaces the current narrative progress reports, which are paper based. The system addresses a mandate of HUD's 2020 Management Reform Plan under which all HUD program elements must "establish new performance-based systems for HUD programs, operations, and employees."
The internet-based application allows for the standardized collection of performance information and improves the reporting and monitoring process.
By collecting this data from PHDEP program grantees, HUD is able to track crime data and crime reduction by individual HA. Direct correlation between program type and crime data allows the Department to better monitor baseline services and safety measures. Reports derived from this system will provide the Department the proper tools to analyze the effectiveness of individual HA's safety and security plans.
Content Archived: January 20, 2009
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