The Need for Change.

Since BUD was created in 1965, economic and social conditions in the United States have changed dramatically. Urban areas throughout the Nation have deteriorated. Many communities suffer from an aging infrastructure, loss of businesses, increasing violence, and dilapidated housing. Yet, in many ways, the Department has not kept pace with that change. As these problems have grown, the value of the Federal dollar has decreased through inflation, without an increase in Federal funding for urban programs. The Department has been beset with numerous problems: its programs tainted with fraud, waste and abuse; its management plagued wi1h chronic problems over the years. The Department has set a dual course of action to improve its management and to focus the Department on its mission.

To improve its management, HUD's Management Reform Plan focuses on getting HUD's house in order, on managing its programs and people more efficiently and responsibly -a fundamental management overhaul. The Plan represents a combination of significant organizational changes, as well as proposed legislative reforms. These reforms are designed to help communities thrive -getting HUD's resources out of Washington and into communities. These reforms are based on a Dew policy designed to empower people, giving them the tools they need to succeed, to help communities move from an industrial to an information economy. It is a dramatic shift in HUD's approach to its mission.

This report is part of the collection of scanned historical documents available to the public.