Federal grant funds that benefit Sugar Land’s and Missouri City’s nonprofits focused on social services and infrastructure have been steadily decreasing in the last few years, according to city officials.

“Over the past four to five years, it has continued to decrease,” said Stacie Henderson, Sugar Land’s community development administrator.

Since 1974, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has given out funds as a part of the Community Development Block Grant program. The grants serve low-income residents across the country where 71 percent of HUD dollars must be used to benefit low-income communities.

In both Sugar Land and Missouri City, funding has lessened over the past few years. For the 2016 program year in Sugar Land, the city received $15,241 less than it did the year prior. Each year in Sugar Land and Missouri City, CDBG funds benefit hundreds of local low-to-moderate income residents.

In Missouri City, the town received $32,375 fewer dollars than the previous year. The decreasing trend has been consistent since 2013, according to HUD data for the cities.

Every year in Sugar Land and Missouri City, the funds help nonprofits pay for social services, city infrastructure improvements and housing rehabilitation projects for those who do not have the resources to fix their homes.

“Through our social services funding and our rehabilitation programs, we have assisted quite a few residents in the community with home-based meals, advocacy services for children and with literacy,” Henderson said. “With the minor home repair program, we’re able to help people to stay in their homes.”

Decreased funding

Sugar Land and Missouri City are referred to as entitlement cities for grant purposes, which means the cities do not have to compete for money at the state level and can instead directly obtain CDBG funds from the federal government, Henderson said.

Entitlement cities generally have at least 51 percent of their residents considered to be low-income. However, Missouri City has an exemption for having 42 percent of its residents qualifying as having low-to-moderate income.

Grant program funding is based on a formula determined by a recommendation by the U.S. president and a formula determined by Congress.

“It varies from year to year,” Missouri City grants coordinator LaToya Ricketts said. “I think this year—from what I can tell—was the higher percentage of [decrease]. I know for certain that we did have overall additional entitlements throughout the country, so that played a factor as well.”

More entitlement cities in the program can mean less money to go around, Ricketts said.

In the latest available data from 2014, HUD funded $143.4 million to 1,193 entitlement grantees nationwide, a number that has slowly but steadily risen since the program’s inception.

When less overall money is allocated for the program, it has a trickle-down effect for the nonprofit organizations each city selects to receive the funds.

“Our public service is capped at 15 percent, so it’s 15 percent of our overall allocation,” Ricketts said. “Either we have to serve fewer subrecipients, or we have to decrease the funding to them. We in the city just try to make sure we fulfill our goals and priorities to ensure that all our projects are funded at an even keel.”

Lori Dunaway, the director of development and public relations for Fort Bend Seniors, which receives CDBG grant money from both Sugar Land and Missouri City, said the organization plans to not rely on government funding.

“We are continuously seeking new and diverse funding sources,” she said. “We look everywhere we can for anybody who would want to support our organization because we know there will be fluctuations in government funding. We haven’t figured out how to predict that.”

She said this year Fort Bend Seniors got a $12,000 grant from Missouri City and a $19,965 grant from Sugar Land. The money strictly goes toward paying for the cost of a meal for a senior, it is not used to pay for including its delivery and coordination, she said.

At a price of $3.32 per meal, the grant money from the two cities would pay for 9,628 meals for seniors this year.

“That’s a meal we can buy with those funds that we don’t have to buy with other funds,” she said.

The organization also receives CDBG program funds from Fort Bend County, which allotted $40,000 this year for the same purpose. Altogether, CDBG program funding from Fort Bend County, Missouri City and Sugar Land would pay for 21,676 meals this year, Dunaway said.

Funds in the community

Sugar Land has been participating in the CDBG program since 2001 and Missouri City since 1998. During those years, the communities have seen physical improvements to their cities because of the funding for infrastructure and parks projects.

During the 2015 program year in Missouri City, for instance, CDBG grant funds helped to fix 14 homes for residents, and the city used grant funds to finish the Hunter’s Glen Park shade structure.

Jennifer Thomas Gomez, Missouri City’s interim assistant director for the Development Services Department, said fewer funds for the housing portion of the program could have a tangible effect on the city.

“That could have a real impact on our property values, on the ability of homeowners to maintain, keep their homes in compliance as they age,” she said. “There’s real implications in terms of how the city uses these resources in order to maintain the quality of life that we value here in Missouri City.”

In 2015, CDBG funds allowed for 2,443 meals to be provided through Fort Bend Seniors while the money simultaneously provided for five scholarships. According to the city’s Consolidated Annual Performance Report, 26 adults also received literacy training and GED preparation.

During the 2015 program year, 42 people in Sugar Land received Meals on Wheels assistance through Fort Bend Seniors while the city also rehabilitated eight homes. Sixty people were also provided literacy education through the Literacy Council of Fort Bend County. Sugar Land also completed improvements to Settlers Way Park that started the previous year. Improvements included installing a restroom storage building, sidewalks, landscaping and fixing irrigation among other things.

“When we initially began the CDBG program, we did the streets and sidewalks in Mayfield Park, and this year we are actually going to be working on a project on some street repairs and sidewalk repairs in Covington Woods,” Henderson said.

If CDBG funds are not available, Henderson said Sugar Land has mechanisms to fund infrastructure projects. However, if the grants depleted it would be up to the City Council to determine how to move forward.

“It’s something that we don’t have control over,” Henderson said. “We utilize the funds that we are given to the best of our ability.”