The Homeless		Veterans
Schools		Families
The Elderly		The Unemployed

In his very fist budget proposal, Bush provided a clear indication of the importance he placed on aid for the homeless and federal housing assistance. Bush proposed freezing both the PATH grant program, which funds services for mentally ill homeless people, and education grants for homeless children. He elminated the $310 million Public Housing Drug Elimination Program, which funds anti-crime activities in public housing, and cut the Public Housing Capital fund, which pays for critical repairs, by $700 million.

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This year, Bush proposed converting the federal Section 8 voucher program for low-income renters into a new block grant, to be administered by the states, and called for eliminating the Hope VI program, which funds public housing modernization and renovation projects. Homeless programs are also on the chopping block -- if indirectly. In February, administration officials trumpeted the fact that homeless assistance programs funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development would receive a total of $1.5 billion. What they didn't mention was that the record figure was achieved only through combining several existing programs -- including some previously administered by other departments -- into a single HUD block grant.