The HUD Brownfields Economic Development Initiative (BEDI) and HUD 108 programs were rescued in the Transportation HUD Appropriations Conference Committee. BEDI got a boost - $17.5 million, which is $7.5 million above the FY 09 level and HUD 108 was continued at $6 million (leverages $275 million in loans). BEDI and HUD 108 were eliminated in the Obama budget and in the Senate Appropriations Bill, but the House appropriated $25 million for BEDI and $6 million for HUD 108.
The Northeast-Midwest Institute coordinated a campaign - including the National Brownfields Coalition, Smart Growth America, the National Association Housing and Redevelopment Organizations (NAHRO), and LOCUS (Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors Group) - to provide Congress with the documented benefits of these programs and the reasons that BEDI and HUD 108 fill a unique niche that cannot be addressed through the EPA Brownfields Program or the HUD CDBG Program. The campaign was bolstered by letters from the mayors of Philadelphia, Tacoma, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Baltimore - as well as the Economic Development Director of Pittsburgh, a group of 16 local governments and non-governmental organizations in Wisconsin, and a letter from the National Brownfields Coalition co-signed by 22 organizations.
For more information, contact Evans Paull (202/329-4282) at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.