Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo
New York is slated to receive a much smaller share of relief funds distributed by the federal housing department than its share of national coronavirus cases, according to a new funding breakdown.
The state will receive about 7 percent of the $1 billion being allocated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Community Development Block Grant funding, while it has about 25 percent of national Covid-19 cases and 33 percent of deaths. The funding, committed under the federal CARES Act, can be used for various economic development and infrastructure needs.
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New York-based housing advocates say the state was shortchanged under the federal breakdown. A coalition of groups wrote a letter to HUD Secretary Ben Carson last month urging him to use a formula that targeted funds to the most heavily-affected areas.
“Immediately following the CARES act we wrote a letter to Secretary Carson really fearing the worst, and that has come to fruition,” said Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference. “Congress appropriated this funding to go to the hardest hit places so it’s remarkable that [HUD] was able to figure out how to get around that … It’s not just disappointing, it’s outrageous how the formula allocation has been manipulated.”
Both the city and state are facing serious budget shortfalls due to the pandemic, and are pleading for an infusion of federal funding to support New York’s economic recovery. City Hall said it is reviewing the allocation. The state did not comment.
The legislative language of the federal relief bill said the HUD secretary should consider factors including “public health needs, risk of transmission of coronavirus, number of coronavirus cases compared to the national average, and economic and housing market disruptions” in determining the breakdown.
Fee noted that Florida received nearly the same amount of block grant funding as New York, but has just 12 percent of positive Covid-19 cases. She also raised concerns over what the breakdown will mean for future allocations of federal funding, such as Emergency Solutions Grant funds that are used toward homelessness.
“It seems really suspicious to me that the factors that they leaned on to direct the funding don’t favor the epicenter of a global health pandemic,” she added.
A HUD spokesperson didn’t return a request for comment.
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New York's share of HUD relief funds falls short of coronavirus need - Politico
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