Adriano Espaillat: “Earlier, I talked about some of the proposed budget cuts that HUD has brought forward for this fiscal year. Let me tell…”

“Earlier, I talked about some of the proposed budget cuts that HUD has brought forward for this fiscal year. Let me tell you, the American people, what some of the programs are that will be negatively, adversely affected by these cuts on a daily basis. Section 8, a program that provides rental assistance to help low- income individuals and families, more than 125,000 households in New York City's NYCHA complexes depend on Section 8 vouchers, 39,000 of which are administered by the city's HPD Department. Approximately half of the voucher recipients are elderly and disabled. Community Development Block Grants help the city enforce housing quality standards. More than half of the city's Community Development Block Grant allocations support housing quality standards funding; 500,000 inspections have been conducted, 8,000 emergency repairs, 16,000 housing litigation cases, and emergency shelters for 1,000 households, just in 2016. The Low Income Housing Tax Credit, nationally, 90 percent of the affordable housing is financed through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit. The Low Income Housing Tax Credit and tax-exempt bonds have helped create and preserve over 116,000 safe, quality, affordable homes in New York City. These programs will be compromised and lead to apartments with mold, chipping paint, leaky pipes, dysfunctioning elevators, failing boilers, and leaky roofs. So this is a major national crisis. Let me share with you some of my constituents' stories.…”