New York’s public housing authorities will share in $42
million in federal aid to cover the cost of protecting tenants and staff during
the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary
Ben Carson today announced the allocation of $380 million in supplemental
administrative fee funding to all Public Housing Authorities (PHA), including
Moving to Work (MTW) PHAs.
Over $42 million will be made available to New York
PHAs. The two months of additional
funding may be used for traditional administrative fees as well as for new
costs related to protecting assisted families and employees throughout this
coronavirus pandemic. The funding, made available by the CARES Act legislation
President Trump signed into law on March 27, 2020, will be awarded to PHAs
across the Nation.
“We must do everything in our power to protect all American
families from this invisible enemy, including our vulnerable in the Housing
Choice Voucher Program,” said Secretary Carson. “These new flexibilities and
additional funds will properly equip Public Housing Authorities across the
country with the resources they need to combat this virus.”
“This Administration has gone above and beyond to ensure
public housing residents are healthy and safe during the COVID-19 Pandemic,
recognizing that low-income tenants have limited options to quarantine
themselves and can’t afford many unexpected expenses,” said Lynne Patton,
Regional Administrator for New York and New Jersey. “Our region is ground zero for COVID-19 in
the nation, and housing authorities can use this funding quickly to serve their
residents.
The Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV) includes the
Mainstream Program, which provides tenant-based vouchers that serve households
that include a non-elderly person with a disability and serves over 2.4 million
families.
The new eligible coronavirus-related activities include, but
are not limited to, the following:
Procuring cleaning supplies and/or services to maintain safe
and sanitary HCV units, including common areas of PHA-owned Project Based
Voucher (PBV) projects.
Relocation of participating families to health units or
other designated units for testing, hospitalization, or quarantine, or
transportation to these locations to limit the exposure that could be caused by
using mass transportation.
Additional costs to supportive services vendors incurred due
to coronavirus.
Costs to retain or increase owner participation in the HCV
Program, such as incentive or retention costs (e.g. the PHA offers owner an
incentive payment to participate in recognition of added difficulties of making
units available for HCV families to rent while stay-at-home orders or social
distancing practices are in effect).
Costs for providing childcare for the children of PHA staff
that would not have otherwise been incurred (e.g. children are at home due to
school closings, PHA staff are working outside of regular work schedules, etc).
After President Trump signed the CARES Act into law, HUD allocate
its first wave of funding, over $3 billion to assist communities and
non-profits, help protect the homeless and Americans with compromised immune
systems, and assist Tribal communities in their COVID-19 response efforts. Last
week, HUD announced an additional $685 million for PHAs to prepare for,
prevent, and respond to a coronavirus outbreak for the public housing program.
“HUD is committed to assisting PHAs during this time so that
assisted families can stay safe and healthy,” said Hunter Kurtz, Assistant
Secretary for Public and Indian Housing. “Providing these additional funds to
PHAs will give them more tools to address local needs and respond to the
Coronavirus pandemic as effectively as possible.”
