Provides specific direction for turning the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development proposals into action. Contains hard answers to critical questions about how HUD's proposals for change will affect communities and people. Chapters on program consolidation (Community Opportunity Fund, Affordable Housing Fund, Homeless Assistance Fund, Housing Certificate Fund, and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS), public and Indian housing transformation, the FHA (Fed. Housing Admin.), and managing HUD for quality performance and results. List of 240 programs.

The report describes potential applications of geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial analysis by HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research for understanding housing needs, addressing broader issues of urban poverty and community development, and improving access to information and services by the many users of HUD's data. It offers a vision of HUD as an important player in providing urban data to federal initiatives towards a spatial data infrastructure for the nation.