More than $2 million in community development block grants have been awarded to the Island and Gosnold this year, despite increased competition for the funds, and an earlier version of the federal budget that proposed eliminating the program entirely.

Gov. Charlie Baker and other state officials last week awarded 39 block grants, totaling $30.5 million, to communities across the state – an increase over last year and more than the Island’s grant administrators had expected.

Edgartown was awarded $1,207,147, applying jointly with West Tisbury, Aquinnah and Gosnold. Oak Bluffs was awarded $921,014, applying with Tisbury. The funds will provide loans for housing rehabilitation for 46 homes in Duke County, and help low and moderate-income families pay for child care.

“The federal budget has not been decreased to the extent we anticipated, and we know that we are safe for one more year,” Alice Boyd of Bailey Boyd Associates in Scituate, who has long administered the housing rehabilitation grants for the Island, said Friday.

The community development block grant (CDBG) program has been the topic of discussion since last year, when the state Department of Community and Housing Development proposed sweeping changes to the application process, with a goal of reaching more communities. A more subtle one-year plan was later issued, although additional changes are likely in store.

Ms. Boyd said the changes this year, including a revised scoring mechanism, ended up benefiting the Island, although competition was steeper than it has been in years. Eventually, she said, the state efforts may affect funding for the Vineyard, which has received about $22 million over the last 19 years.

“I know that DCHD is making an effort to fund new communities that have never been funded before, and they are really looking at limiting how many funds a community can get over a period of time,” she said. “And that will impact us.”

Funding for the program has been threatened in the past, including under President George W. Bush, who in 2005 proposed lumping it together with 17 other local assistance programs and cutting funds by a third.

“CDBG programs are very popular with cities and towns across this country, because they make a big difference,” Ms. Boyd said, noting the major threats to the program but only two years when Island towns were not funded, most recently in 2013. “There are always surprises,” she said. “This program is down from when I started. But the fact that it’s still intact is a testimony to the benefits it provides.”

She said this year’s funding would likely arrive by January.