To Ben Carson, New York and Florida’s needs are the same.
The secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has allocated the $1 billion relief funds outlined in the CARES Act and did not treat the states hardest hit by the pandemic any differently, Politico reports.
New York and Florida are receiving the same amount of funds, about 7 percent, despite the Empire State having about 25 percent of the country’s Covid-19 cases and the Sunshine State about 12 percent. The funds can be used for economic development and infrastructure.
Housing advocates are outraged.
“It’s not just disappointing, it’s outrageous how the formula allocation has been manipulated,” Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference, told Politico.
Fee said her organization urged Carson when Congress passed the federal aid package to consider the states most affected by the virus in his allocation formula.
“Immediately following the CARES Act we wrote a letter to Secretary Carson really fearing the worst,” she said, “and that has come to fruition.”
According to Politico, City Hall is reviewing the allocation and the state did not comment.
[Politico New York] — Erin Hudson, ekh@therealdeal.com
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