The House Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee is scheduled to mark up the FY 2012 Transportation-HUD Appropriations bill this afternoon.  In a victory for local governments, a draft version of the bill would provide $3.5 billion for CDBG, a $200 million (approximately 6 percent) increase from FY 2011. 

Tempering this news is language that would cap CDBG administrative costs at 10 percent rather than 20 percent.  As a result, while many grantees would see an increase in their CDBG allocation under the House proposal, they may have to dip into their general fund to offset the decrease in the cap on administrative costs.  Furthering tempering this good news are cuts to other programs in the bill, including a cut of $400 million (approximately 25 percent) to HOME, and substantial cuts to core public housing programs. 

We will have more detail about the Subcommittee’s bill in Friday’s Washington Report.