The city’s affordable housing programs could be in jeopardy if President-elect Donald Trump makes good on his plan to cut federal funding from sanctuary cities, according to a report released Wednesday by the city comptroller.
Scott Stringer analyzed the city’s budget to determine which agencies receive the most money from Washington and found that the city’s Department of Housing, Preservation and Development receives nearly 48 percent of its $1.3 billion in funding from the federal government. Stringer warned against cuts as the number of homeless New Yorkers continues to rise.
“I urge President-elect Trump to remember that behind every federal line item is a human face — a family in need, a victim of domestic violence, an AIDS patient, a hungry schoolchild,” he said in a statement.
Stringer’s report, which said $7.1 billion from Washington makes up only 8.6 percent of the city’s budget, highlighted that some of HPD’s most beneficial programs are heavily dependent on federal money. All of the agency’s $482.8 million Section 8 voucher program and 76 percent of its $39.2 million building code enforcement and emergency repair program, are covered by the federal government.
A Trump spokeswoman didn’t return messages for comment.
Other city services would also see drastic cuts if they lost federal funding, including the Health Department’s HIV/AIDS prevention treatment program and public school meals programs.
The NYPD has the fewest federal dollars, as only 3.4 percent of its $5.38 billion budget comes from Washington. That money pays for 61 percent of the department’s intelligence and counterterrorism operations, according to the report.
