Federal funding that had been cut off from Westchester County since 2011 will soon start flowing again to local governments and nonprofits.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison, announced on Monday that approximately $5 million in affordable housing, community development and emergency shelter grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will be directed to projects in Westchester in 2015.
A consortium of Westchester municipalities and nonprofits was ineligible to receive HUD funding as a result of the county’s noncompliance with a settlement agreement reached in a 2009 affordable housing lawsuit. The consortium disbanded at the end of 2014. Communities that were in the consortium will now be able to competitively apply to the state for funds.
“This funding is an important resource for local governments and nonprofit organizations in Westchester County that provide everything from affordable housing to public works improvements for their communities,” Cuomo said in a press release.
In 2009, prior to the election of Robert P. Astorino as county executive, the county agreed to settle a housing lawsuit by building or obtaining 750 units of affordable housing ”“ mostly in 31 towns and villages where the black and Hispanic populations made up less than 2 percent and 7 percent, respectively, of the overall population.
The federal government rejected eight different submissions of an analysis filed by Astorino’s administration of impediments to integration and affordable housing in six Westchester municipalities, a requirement of the settlement. Those analyses identified no impediments. Westchester communities have lost out on $22 million in HUD grants since 2011 due to the standoff.
“The creative solution to restore CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funding to Westchester municipalities negotiated by Congresswoman Lowey and Governor Cuomo is the first good news for Westchester taxpayers since Astorino began his fight against the federal government,” the Democratic caucus of the county Board of Legislators said in a statement. “Astorino”™s harmful failure to satisfactorily comply with the terms of the housing settlement have already cost Westchester taxpayers $22 million in lost federal funding for the 2011-2014 grant years.”
New York State Homes and Community Renewal will distribute approximately $3.3 million in CDBG funds through a competitive application process to the areas formerly served by the county consortium.
More than $600,000 will be available via Emergency Shelter Grants, which can fund the renovation of buildings used as emergency shelters or transitional housing for homeless families as well as maintenance, operation, rent, repair, security, food and utilities. More than $900,000 will be available through the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which can fund activities including building, buying and/or rehabilitating affordable housing for rent or homeownership.
