COPS/Metro Says City Should Fulfill Promise of 'New Money' for Housing Repairs, San Antonio Express News Agrees
[Excerpts below]
It was celebrated as millions in new funding for housing renovation.
Last August, at a time when federal funds for home repairs and renovations for low-income homeowners appeared to be dwindling, the city had “found” $4.7 million to bolster those efforts, tapping unspent federal housing grants. This would be in addition to $1.8 million in new funding. Together, the $6.5 million would repair 81 homes.
But it turns out much of that $4.7 million was already allocated to home repair projects. It might not have been spent, but it also wasn’t available.
“The money was not there,” said Maria Tijerina of COPS/Metro Alliance. “It wasn’t new money. It was old money.”
....“This wasn’t some misunderstanding,” said Walker Moore, interim lead organizer for COPS/Metro.
To the degree possible, the city should apply new funds to home repairs for the upcoming budget — funds that can be spent and honor what COPS/Metro and others thought was happening in August.
[Photo Credit: Carolyn Van Houten / San Antonio Express News]
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