MARCH 13, 2006, FARMINGVILLE, NY – Brookhaven Town Supervisor Brian X. Foley has reached out to New York’s congressmen and senators to prevent the slow but steady scuttling of the federal Community Development Block Grant Program that has been of great benefit to lower income residents of the Town of Brookhaven since 1980.

“The attempts of last year to completely eliminate this program were soundly defeated,” said Supervisor Foley. “However, however we now find ourselves in another battle to prevent deep funding cuts that will wreak havoc on this program and the many communities that administer it.”

The fiscal year 2007 budget for HUD would reduce the Community Development Block Grant Program by 25%, funding has decreased by $670 million, or 15.19%, with a 5% cut in FY 2005 and a 10% cut in FY 2006. The cumulative funding cut for the three-year period including 2007 would be 40% should this latest proposal be adopted.

Congressman Tim Bishop supports efforts to fund the CDBG program. Mr. Bishop recently signed on to a bipartisan letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee urging them to reject the administration's cuts to this vital program.  He noted that CDBG funding is especially important because each dollar spent under the program leverages three dollars of private investment.

"In our community, affordable housing means workforce housing, affordable housing means allowing our sons and daughters to stay on Long Island," said Mr. Bishop. "The fact that this program leverages so much private funding only multiplies the magnitude of the administration's proposed cut.  Cuts at this level would harm many of Brookhaven's most vulnerable families.  That is why I am working with my colleagues in Congress to make sure we adequately fund this program."

As reported by the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), such a cut would reduce the funding received by Suffolk County from  $3,810,697 in FY 2006 to $2,848,865 in FY 2007. As the largest member of the Suffolk County Community Development Consortium, the Town of Brookhaven would lose a significant portion of its annual funding. 

The results of this funding loss will directly impact those that can least afford it in Brookhaven Town. Programs geared to assist residents at or below the 80% of median income level--such as affordable housing, public services, housing rehabilitation, removal of architectural barriers and many others--will by necessity be severely cut back or eliminated entirely.

Supervisor Foley has asked New York Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer and Congressmen Tim Bishop, Gary Ackerman, and Peter King to support providing $4.5 billion for the program in FY 2007.