DOGE cancels nearly $4 million in federal funds meant to rehab affordable apartments
Senator Tina Smith speaks at a press conference at Vista Village, an affordable housing complex in St. Paul, Monday, April 14, 2025. The complex was set to receive a $3.8 million federal grant for maintenance and repairs, but the funding was permanently frozen. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
At Vista Village apartments in St. Paul, residents of the affordable complex reported faulty furnaces and ice building up inside of their windows on cold days. Parts of the floor were water-damaged, and after more than 50 years of housing low-income residents, wear and tear on the building was becoming impossible to ignore.
In October, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban development gave the building's nonprofit owner a $3.8 million grant to pay for needed repairs and upgrades, including a new heating system and windows.
But the money never came through because the Trump administration has 'permanently frozen' the funds, CommonBond Communities president and CEO Deidre Schmidt said Monday.
The grant money came from HUD's Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, which provided grants and loans to finance energy efficiency upgrades at affordable housing developments nationwide. Vista Village was the only Minnesota-based project to receive an award through the competitive program.
Congress authorized $1 billion for the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. In March, the Associated Press reported that the program was being 'terminated' at the direction of DOGE.
Communication about the 'permanent freeze' has been confusing and contradictory, said Sen. Tina Smith, who joined Schmidt and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter for a press conference at Vista Village Monday.
Elon Musk, the world's richest man and a close advisor to President Donald Trump, has directed federal agencies to cancel funding related to climate change mitigation.
'What's going on here is actually a massive power grab, and a big money grab, because their plan is to scoop up all of this money and then use it so that they can pay for the tax cuts that they have planned for really wealthy individuals and big corporations,' Smith said.
Vista Village resident Lisa Bennett, a nurse who has lived at the building for nearly seven years, said the repairs to the complex are needed.
'We're not asking for no hardwood floors. We don't want no stainless steel appliances. We don't want no recessed lighting — just for that grant to come through so that we can get our building together,' Bennett said.
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