Brownsville Lawmakers U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, Assemblywoman Latrice M. Walker, and Councilwoman Alicka Ampry-Samuel teamed up yesterday in firing off a letter to Housing and Urban Development Agency (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson urging him to reject President Donald Trump‘s 2019 budget proposal slashing funds that affect public housing, affordable housing and urban development.
The Trump Administration announced last month that it wants to eliminate the Public Housing Capital and Operating Funds, Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Section 4 Capacity Building for Community Development and Affordable Housing, Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, and the HOME Program.
The federal, state and city lawmakers argue in the letter that cutting funding for these programs will destabilize affordable housing, public housing, anti-poverty programs and infrastructure improvement within communities across the country.
“The Public Housing Capital Fund is an integral part of New York’s public housing infrastructure. NYCHA relies on the funds to develop, finance, and modernize its facilities. In 2018 NYCHA estimates that 43% of its boilers are past their useful life and 31% of NYCHA’s elevators are in failing or in poor condition,” they wrote.
The lawmakers wrote that the Public Housing Operating Fund also provides essential subsidies to help maintain services and provide minimum operating reserves for NYCHA. “Likewise, the HOME and CDBG programs provide essential assistance toward eliminating blight while the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program currently benefits 90,000 New Yorkers,” they wrote.
“The proposed cuts of $8.8 billion come after last year’s proposed cut of nearly $7.3 billion and represent nearly 20 percent of HUD’s overall budget. While the budget claims to promote self-sufficiency, improve quality of life, and prevent homelessness, such cuts would have the opposite effect and leave hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers living in worse conditions. These cuts also ignore efforts by state and local officials to dedicate non-federal resources toward affordable housing, which are deeply hampered by the Administration’s decision to limit the state and local tax deduction to $10,000 per year,” the lawmakers wrote.
Eight Members of Congress, 26 Members of the State Assembly, and 38 New York City Council Members also signed off on the letter. All were Democrats.
