Fiscal Year 2004 HUD Budget Message from Secretary Martinez

The daily work of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is guided by broad, yet focused strategic goals: increase homeownership opportunities; promote decent affordable housing; strengthen communities; ensure equal opportunity in housing; embrace high standards of ethics, management and accountability; and promote the participation of community and faith-based organizations.

To fulfill both its mission and its obligations to the American people, HUD is working aggressively to implement the housing agenda laid out by President Bush. Our proposed $31.3 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2004 ensures that HUD will continue to offer new opportunities to families and individuals seeking the American Dream. As the President said during his June 2002 visit to HUD headquarters, "Our collective job is to make sure that [the] notion of the American Dream extends into every single neighborhood around this country."

The HUD budget achieves this by empowering communities and families to make decisions that best meet local needs. It makes HUD a better steward of the taxpayers' dollars by insisting on completion, performance and results.

HUD will continue to play an important role in Fiscal Year 2004 through budget initiatives that work to strengthen communities as well as stimulate the economy and create jobs. Housing is a critical component of the President's agenda. The proposed budget continues to promote homeownership - particularly among minorities - as a stabilizing economic force for families, communities and for the nation as a whole. New programs and expanded initiatives will also work to spur affordable housing production for families and individuals who rent. We are also opening up opportunities for more of those in need to access assisted housing.

HUD is leading an unprecedented commitment by the Administration to address the challenge of homelessness. Our outreach includes new budgetary resources and a new focus on ending chronic homelessness. By providing appropriate care to those who experience chronic homelessness, HUD will ensure it has the ability to serve every homeless individual who seeks our help.

In fulfillment of the President's Management Agenda, the Fiscal Year 2004 budget ensures that HUD's internal offices work together to produce strong, integrated results and to improve overall compliance, standards and efficiencies in an agency that has long been labeled "high risk." The plan stresses accountability and results, so that citizens can be confident that their tax dollars are being spent effectively. We know that HUD can achieve its mission by improving management and the delivery of services.

As we implement this budget, we will also judge our success by the lives and communities we have helped to change through HUD's mission of compassionate service to others: the young families who have taken out their first mortgage and become homeowners, the homeless individuals who are no longer homeless, the neighborhoods that have found new hope, the faith-based and community organizations that are today using HUD grants to deliver social services, and the neighborhoods once facing a shortage of affordable housing that now have enough homes for all.

Empowered by the resources provided for and supported by HUD's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2004, our communities and the entire nation will grow even stronger. And more citizens will come to know the American Dream for themselves.