New Report Highlights HUD Investments in Communities

Under the strong leadership of Secretary Andrew Cuomo, HUD is changing the way it does business. Not only are HUD initiatives investing in communities and reinvigorating distressed neighborhoods, but the Department is becoming more effective and more efficient. In his introduction to a new report, Secretary Cuomo notes that, even with all of its accomplishments, HUD must continue to work with America's communities to ensure that all citizens and cities are included in the Nation's extraordinary economic expansion.

"With a new prosperity and national confidence ... comes the obligation to reach those people and places that have not yet benefited fully from the Nation's good fortune," Cuomo writes in Building Communities and New Markets for the New Century, 1998 Consolidated Report. Although there are no simple solutions to the problems that continue to face many American cities and their residents, Building Communities provides information on how to maximize resources by making smart public investments and partnering with private and nonprofit organizations to build strong communities.

Secretary Cuomo encourages localities to expand cooperation to meet today's most serious challenges—from concentrated poverty to environmental decline, from crime to the opportunity gap between where jobs are flourishing and where affordable housing is available. Building Communities highlights the results of HUD investments in communities and the reinvention of the Department. The report illustrates HUD's commitment to America's communities through assistance that provides resources for both problem solving and prevention.

Highlighting HUD's programs and contributions to America's communities, Building Communities presents the Department's accomplishments, outlines how HUD investments in local communities have yielded significant results, and describes its challenges for the future. Building Communities includes updates on HUD's activities, descriptions of various HUD programs, examples of successful local efforts, and illustrative charts and graphs depicting funding and demographic information. The report is presented in the following sections:

• HUD Works—Performance, Customer Service, and a Commitment to Our Mission describes the dramatic overhaul of HUD's operations that began in 1997. HUD's new structure (which emphasizes customer service, performance, and a renewed commitment to its mission) has ensured that the Department is an effective partner in assisting local communities and markets.
  
  
• HUD Next Door—Creating Jobs and Livable Communities describes programs that promote economic development, create jobs, prevent crime, provide access to healthcare, reduce environmental toxins, and respond to natural disasters.
  
  
• A Place to Call Home—Affordable Housing includes information on HUD's efforts to ensure that all Americans have access to safe, decent, and affordable housing.
  
  
• A Place at the Table—Expanding Prosperity and Economic Opportunity provides information on HUD's programs that help low-income families and welfare recipients move from poverty to self-sufficiency.
  
  
• Realizing the American Dream—Homeownership highlights Federal Housing Administration and fair housing initiatives that have helped make homeownership more affordable.
  
  
• Breaking Barriers—Fair Housing presents HUD's efforts to combat housing discrimination, reports on HUD's increased enforcement activities under the Fair Housing Act, and describes how HUD's efforts have helped break down barriers to equal opportunity.

The report includes an index of programs and a list of contact information for HUD Headquarters and regional offices.

Free copies of Building Communities and New Markets for the New Century, 1998 Consolidated Report are available from HUD USER. Please use the order form to order online.