Rep. Chris Smith Announces $1.2M-plus CARES Act Funds for Fourth District Housing Authorities

Statement

More than $1.2 million in emergency federal funding has been awarded to local housing authorities in the Fourth Congressional District to expand public housing opportunities and to help local housing facilities meet sterilization standards needed to protect residents during the coronavirus pandemic, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) said today. The back-to-back funding comes from two separate programs both boosted by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act which Smith supported last month.

Smith said the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will provide a total of $1,0115,340 from The CARES Act Administrative Fee Regular and Mainstream Voucher Programs. These federal funds will make more subsidized housing available during the pandemic. Recipients in the Fourth District receiving funding are:

Red Bank Housing Authority, $45,302

Neptune Housing Authority, $49,500

Housing Authority of the Township of Lakewood, $239,566

Housing Authority of the Township of Middletown, $75,788

Monmouth County Public Housing Authority, $343,654

Hamilton Township Housing Authority, $34,292

Lakewood Township Residential Assistance Program, $220,760

Community Enterprises Corporation of Freehold Borough, $6,478

"This funding allows public housing authorities to offer more assistance to more low-income residents served by the Housing Choice Voucher, or Section 8 program, during the COVID-19 outbreak," Smith said. "The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased the need for public housing and put a financial strain on housing programs, and this CARES Act funding will address that need."

Smith noted the grants come on the heels of those HUD provided just days ago, from The CARES Act Supplemental Public Housing Operating Funds program to bolster financial resources for the management, maintenance, and resident services in facilities hit hard by COVID-19 response.

"Housing authorities have incurred significant, unanticipated expenses for crucial actions needed to protect lives, such as constant cleaning and sanitizing, and the related supplies needed to keep their housing facilities safer due to the coronavirus response," Smith said. "One of the ways to stop the virus is to keep a cleaner, sanitized environment," he said.

These additional CARES funds, in the amount of $270,000, are going to four towns in NJ-04:

Belmar Housing Authority, $22,205

Freehold Housing Authority, $20,933

Neptune Housing Authority, $178,472

Red Bank Housing Authority, $48,473

"These federal coronavirus HUD grants will boost local efforts to protect vulnerable populations and allow our local housing authorities to have more resources to bring about the safest possible environment for the communities they serve," said Smith.

Paul DeSantis, Executive Director of the Belmar Housing Authority, said today that the facility he oversees on Eighth Avenue in the borough has a great need for the funding.

"This funding will help a lot to cover the costs we've incurred since the start of the pandemic," DeSantis said. "The majority of the people here are seniors, and we also have adults with disabilities."

Both grants are being allocated based on the same formula used for the regular, annual appropriation for the housing authorities.

The CARES Act is Phase III of the federal response. Smith supported Phase I, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020--which provided $8.3 billion for treatment and prevention measures, as well as Phase II, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act--which provided paid sick leave, family medical leave, free testing, and expanded unemployment benefits among other provisions to help working Americans.

As signed by President Trump, The CARES Act is also providing direct financial assistance of $1,200 for individuals making under $75,000 per year, $100 billion in grants to hospitals to address coronavirus-related financial damage, $150 billion to assist state and local governments, $600 extra per week for unemployment benefits for four months, and $16 billion to assist in the procurement of medical supplies for the Strategic National Stockpile.

Source