New Directions in the Federal Funding of Urban Programs. HUD News.

There is now an enormous communications belt between the academic world and government. The whole thrust of the new direction in federal funding of urban programs is to give people with bad housing and state and local governments with immoveable problems the cash they need to back up their particular priorities in the marketplace. This means experimenting with direct cash assistance as an alternative to inefficient and inequitable federal construction subsides to help those in need of safe and sanitary housing. The Urban Observatory program is administered by the National League of Cities and it represents the indispensable cornerstone in building a network of local government-university partnerships. The program operates at present in 10 cities and it has begun to build in these cities an effective communication belt for bringing local research capabilities to search for solutions to local community problems. Clearly, then, if government is to meet the most pressing domestic needs of the 70s, there must be a flexible and responsive research partnership among all levels of government and education. (Author/PG)