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Evolution of Federal Urban Policy: A National Perspective

Learn about the role of the federal government in cities and metropolitan affairs, grants-in-aid, and the evolution of federal urban policy from the 1960s to present. Explore key urban grants-in-aid programs like housing, homelessness, and urban redevelopment.

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Evolution of Federal Urban Policy: A National Perspective

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  1. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: ROLE In CITIES & METROPOLITAN AFFAIRS

  2. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: Grants-In-Aid Evolution of Federal Urban Policy

  3. GRANTS IN AID • A federal payment to state or local government to perform some specified activity • States and local government usually required to match a certain percentage of federal funds • Must adhere to federal program guidelines • Expanded dramatically in the Great Depression

  4. TYPES OF GRANTS IN AID(% of all Federal grants in 1990) • Categorical grants (88%) • (e.g.: Interstate Highway Program) • Block grants (10%) • (e.g: Social Services & Community Development) • General Revenue sharing (0%) • Other general assistance (2%)

  5. KEY URBAN GRANTS-IN-AID:HOUSING • Early Public Housing • Section 8 • Single most important housing program today • Rehabilitation of existing housing units for leased public housing • With the ending of new unit construction (1984) has become a rent supplement program

  6. HOMELESSNESS • Number of homeless increased after 1984 • Personal behavior remains primary cause • Stock of cheap housing declined

  7. KEY URBAN GRANTS-IN-AID: URBAN REDEVELOPMENT • Urban Renewal and Housing Act of 1949 • Commercial Development and the Private Sector • Criticism • Created fiefdoms for bankers • Effect on individuals being relocated • Eliminated as Separate Program in 1974

  8. EVOLUTION OF FEDERAL URBAN POLICY (1960 – 2002) • Activism (1964-1980)

  9. ACTIVISM • High point in middle 1960’s • Desire to assist those left behind during economic prosperity of 1950’s • Legacy of an assassinated president • Electoral landslide in the 1964 national election • Texas “Hill Country” roots of LBJ

  10. Lyndon Johnson: the Great Society • Two New Cabinet Departments • Education Act of 1965 • Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 • Fair Housing Act of 1968 • Public Housing Legislation of 1968 • Model Cities Act of 1966

  11. ACTIVISM OVER TIME • Richard Nixon: the (first) New Federalism • General Revenue Sharing • Block Grants • Jimmy Carter and the Cities • Modest activism of the “New Partnership” • Economic difficulties constrained funding for “New Partnership” • Achievements minimal

  12. EVOLUTION OF FEDERAL URBAN POLICY (1980 – Present) • Retreat from Activism

  13. EVOLUTION OF THE RETREAT • Reagan’s Urban Legacy • Urban enterprise zones • Second New Federalism • Cutbacks in direct urban programs • Economic Recession Leads to defeat of George H. W. Bush • Unemployment most severe among poor African-American • Again: riots in Los Angeles

  14. EVOLUTION OF THE RETREAT: The Clinton Years • A “New Covenant?” • Empowerment Zones • Urban Crime Bill of 1994 • Welfare Reform • Symbolism of the Clinton approach • Empathy with underprivileged • Outreach to African-Americans

  15. George W. Bush & the Cities • Compassionate Conservatism • Privatization • Entrepreneurialism • Conservative cast to social programs • Faith-based initiatives • Reaction to attacks on World Trade Center • Office of Homeland security focuses on “first responders” • Police focus on terrorists and potential terrorists

  16. National Urban Policy: Feasibility & Rationale • Come to grips with widespread decay in central cities • Deal with urban underclass and the disproportionate number of minorities in this strata • Problems are national in scope and beyond capabilities of any local government

  17. Why the Failure to Formulate and Implement a National Urban Policy? • Pluralism in U.S.A. leads to laundry list of programs rather than program with internal coherence • Private sector ideology of the United States makes it impossible to develop urban policy based on national centralized planning • Ambivalence toward urban areas • Problem of targeting allocation of funds • Partisan considerations • Grantsmanship favors those who know the system

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