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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will provide $13,695,765 to Hidalgo County for community development and housing needs, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn announced Wednesday. The funds will be used for economic development, emergency shelters, and low-income housing assistance. Hidalgo County received a similar amount in 2003, but this year’s funding includes a new program for low-income home ownership assistance."These grants will help provide economic opportunities where they’re needed most,” Sen. Cornyn said. “It’s encouraging to see that HUD continues to recognize the specific needs of south Texas, an area that is all too often overlooked.” the funds are allocated as follows: $10,116,000 in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG); $3,096,590 from the HOME Investment Partnership Program; $377,426 from the Emergency Shelter Grant program (ESG), and 95,749 in FY 2003 and 2004 from a new program, the American Dream Downpayment Initiative (ADDI). HUD’s HOME program is the largest block grant to state and local governments from the federal government, and was created to help provide affordable housing for low-income households. The program provides more than $1 billion annually. Funds from the ESG program provide for emergency homeless shelters and to help improve the quality of existing emergency shelters. The program also helps meet the operating costs of shelters, and provides certain essential services. CDBG provides annual grants for local governments for activities that best serve their own particular development priorities. Projects funded by CDBG benefit low- and moderate-income persons, prevent or eliminate slums, or meet other urgent community development needs. Funds are provided to most of the largest localities in the country. the ADDI is a new project under the HOME program to promote home ownership through providing necessary resources for downpayments to low-income and minority households.