This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, May 23, 2013: When the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development told St. Louis that it had to change the way community block grants were divided, most policymakers were generally enthusiastic about the change.
For years, block grants were divided up wards, giving aldermen more power and influence on where to direct the money. Now, St. Louis is moving toward a more centralized process, where organizations and agencies that want funding will have to apply and make a case for the money.
But details of the new process — including who makes the decisions in distributing the money — could become a major source of contention. Some observers don't want the new process to be dominated by the mayor's office. And there's some fear by others that weaker community development organizations could lose vital sources of funding.
Alderman Fred Wessels, D-13th Ward, said that there is wide support for shifting from a ward-by-ward allocation to a competitive process. However, he added, "the conflict will come when some projects get funded and some won't."
"And then of course, it’s going to be unfair to those that aren’t funding," he added.
High stakes
While Tom Pickel, the executive director of the DeSales Housing Corporation, said he sees long-term benefit in changing the block grant system, he added that there are short-term concerns as well.
"There’s going to be a period of transition. And this bold, new process is coming into being as we speak," Pickel said. "So there’s a lot of uncertainty there. And naturally, that creates concern for people. And I can’t say that we don’t have some concern about how this is all going to work out, especially for the near term and looking into next year for example."
Block grant money accounts for about 10 percent of Pickel's organization's funding. But he added that other agencies are much more reliant on that funding source.
"There are organizations where their block-grant allocation is 100 percent of their budgets," Pickel said. "So they have, as you can imagine, that much greater concern about the new system than we do."
Although Todd Swanstrom, a political science professor, sees a competitive process as "definitely a good thing," he added it's also a stark change for how community development organizations will get funding.
"Naturally, they're a little nervous. [They're saying] 'oh boy, what's going to happen? I'm going to get cut off and maybe some of the weaker CDCs will go out of business,'" Swanstrom said.
"But overall, it's a healthy direction. And our members came up with the policy proposal months before this, which essentially looks like what I just said. … A more objective and professional process."
"When you've got an ocean liner that's been going one direction for 20 years, you can't ask it to turn on a dime," he added. "The groups are not really ready to come up with a better application. They've never had to compete for grant funds. All they had to do is was … [stay in good favor with their alderman.]"
James Heard, HUD's St. Louis field office director, said his agency is providing the city "with technical assistance" and "other tools to be able to help them better analyze what they need to put in place."
"We’re not trying to force any sort of timeframe on them," Heard said. "They’re working with our technical assistance and coming up with their own timeline."
He also said that community development organizations and not for profits could benefit from the new process — especially if they band together with other groups.
"They see it as an opportunity," Heard said. "Organizations that were shut out in the past based upon dollars that were given to a ward and just handed out without any rationale, they are now going to be included, if they come together and work together with other organizations within their community."
Question of how
Besides the philosophical shift, the other lingering question is who will be responsible for dividing the funds.
Maggie Crane, a spokesman for St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, said that "the ultimate decision as to where money goes has — and always will — lie" with the Community Development Administration. That agency, among other things, administers federal housing, community and economic development funds.
"We're looking to possibly form an advisory committee, but that's still way too early in the talking stages to have anything of substance to tell you," Crane said. "We're looking to HUD for guidance on this moving forward."
Pickel said there "has to be a system of allocation that's got integrity and trust of all parties: the aldermen, the mayor’s office, the community."
"We strongly advocate that there be an independent body that can oversee or approve the allocation process," Pickel said.
Alderman Antonio French — who has tangled with Slay in the past on a multitude of issues — said that he doesn’t want the new system be dominated by the mayor’s administration.
"There’s a concern that what you’re actually doing is shifting this from the legislative to the executive branch," French, D-21st Ward, said. "And then, based upon many of our experiences before, is that block-grant funds have been awarded by the mayor’s office based on how politically in favor you are with them."
"I don’t want it controlled by the mayor," he added. "It needs to be independent or in some way it’s not linking our political cooperation or our support for the mayor’s agenda with getting funds for our wards."
Alderwoman Christine Ingrassia, D-6th Ward, said it would be wise to have all the appropriate stakeholders involved in dividing block grant funding.
"I think it would be good to have the mayor’s office, the legislative body and private interests all sitting at the table who have experience with looking at (request for proposals) and being able to rate them effectively and not have it turn it into a political process, which I think has been the case historically in the city," she said.
