Texas Southern awarded $1M HUD grant

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently awarded Texas Southern University a $1 million research grant to support housing and community development research at historically black colleges and universities.

The grant is targeted for a Center of Excellence that will advance research on affordable housing and community development policy benefiting low-income communities of color in Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, according to a press release from HUD.  Howard University received $4.5 million from HUD to establish its own COE.

"HUD is proud to forge new partnerships with academia to build on research and innovation that will better inform the housing and community development needs of historically underserved communities," HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said in the release. “We look forward to the advancements and contributions Howard University and Texas Southern University – both esteemed HBCUs – will make using these grants.”

President Joe Biden proposed in March to give $55 billion to HBCUs and minority-serving institutions for research and development through the American Jobs Program. The proposal was trimmed to $2 billion, according to the Washington Post.

According to The Center for Public Policy Priorities, HBCUs are underfunded compared to state universities.