Nothing Exceeds Like Excess

For fiscal year 2013, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has requested $3.143 billion for its Community Development Fund and another $2.948 billion for Community Development Block Grants. The former is a slight reduction from 2012, the latter is a “no change.” Almost all of the 2012 funds have been distributed, and most of those sums are still sitting in bank accounts, awaiting local distribution.

This seems to mean that the local authorities are not spending money fast enough to suit the Obama administration. So HUD has devoted $70 million to teach the right way to spend grant money so that it can continue to ask for more money, more money. HUD Secretary Mercedes Marquez said in a news release: “The extra $70 million will help communities and non-profits ensure that scarce federal dollars are targeted where they are needed most.” I have to wonder why we are handing over taxpayer billions to agencies which then need $70 million dollars to teach them how to use the money given to them.

Now I know that if I go to the bank to borrow money, the first thing they ask me is what I intend to use the money for. If it was for my business, I had to produce a complete business plan. But in the case of “gifts” to local communities and community agencies, first they give them the money, then they have to tell them how the money should be used. That seems slightly backwards to me. Not to mention the bank never provided me with free extra funding so I could learn how to run my business/practice. In fact, if they thought I didn’t already know how to use the money, they wouldn’t give it to me.

HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan says: “We’re talking about local jurisdictions working with each other in a local way to confront what could be an area-wide problem or a challenge. Often times, when you just deal with your own local community, you don’t take a wider look at the—maybe the regional needs of a place.” Well, they already have the money. Shouldn’t they know these things before you give them the money? Wouldn’t it be a good idea to educate them first, then allocate funds based on the viability of the projects?

Maybe things have changed, but when I was a planning commissioner two decades back, local public and private agencies had to run things past us. Then we vetted the plans, and passed them on to the city council. The city council repeated the process, then consulted with the county planners. They reviewed, then passed it on to the regional authorities (in this case, the Southern California Association of Government, or SCAG). Finally, the state was consulted as well as any federal agencies which might become involved. We simply didn’t hand over taxpayer money to any agency without thorough review of the plans they had already made as a presentation. We sure didn’t give them money in advance and hope everything turned out all right.

HUD, like all federal leviathan agencies, has a specific charge from Congress and the executive branch. But also like those other intermeddling bureaucracies, HUD’s main purpose these days is to perpetuate itself by getting, distributing and promoting the use of huge sums of the public’s money. And what better way to do that than to spend 70 million taxpayer dollars to keep the flow of money coming and going? If you don’t teach them how to spend all the money, and then some, you can’t come back and ask for more next year.

And if you don’t believe me, take their word for it. When Sullivan was queried by a reporter, this is what happened: Reporter: “If I’m reading this correctly, this a grant to teach people how to spend money they already have.” Sullivan: “Absolutely.”