Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski lobbied members of Congress to spare the federal grant program that provides his city more than $2.5 million annually for initiatives such as housing rehabilitations.
Since 2010, the Lehigh Valley’s three cities are facing federal budget cuts that will slash Community Development Block Grant funding more than 25 percent.
After cutting the fiscal year 2011 CDBG budget by about 16 percent, Congress cut the 2012 budget by another 11 percent from about $3.3 billion to $2.94 billion.
Pawlowski, vice chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ community development committee, alleged that an indication that some type of deal involving CDBG funding was in the works when he left Washington, D.C. few weeks ago.
“I don’t know what the bargain was but obviously we lost. . .”To me it appears Congress is trying to dismantle the program,” he said.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development figures released last week show Allentown will receive an estimated $1.94 million and Easton will receive $724,477, or a $125,523 cut to its anticipated CDBG budget while Bethlehem is slated to receive an estimated $1.19 million, which is a roughly $150,000 cut over last year’s allocation.
CDBG represents the last federal program that gives cities money and the flexibility to decide how best to use it.
Pawlowski said that Allentown uses the money for initiatives such as blight removal, code enforcement and installing hundreds of curb cuts that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
He blasted Congress for talking about the need to create jobs only to cut funding for a program that makes up a fraction of the federal budget and creates local jobs.
Pawlowski said that when the city starts accepting CDBG applications from nonprofit groups in February, officials may be unable to fund programs such as home ownership counseling through Neighborhood Housing Services of the Lehigh Valley.