Minnesota Democrats criticize Trump administration after HUD freezes funds for St. Paul apartment

Vista Village in St. Paul needs new boilers, windows, insulation and safety upgrades, but those fixes are now on hold. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development froze a $3.8 million grant for the project.

DFL U.S. Senator Tina Smith said she thinks the Trump administration is violating the law by freezing funding approved by Congress.

“This funding was authorized by the United States Congress for a program that is called the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, and the idea is to make desperately needed improvements to housing like this and to save money on utility bills,” Smith said outside the apartment complex. “But the Trump administration just stopped it, and this is completely unacceptable.”

Smith joined St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter Monday to rip the Trump administration for delaying the funding for the apartment building on Concord Street.

“When the federal government makes a commitment, we ought to keep it,” said Carter. “When the federal government makes a promise to help people live in better housing conditions, we ought to keep that promise. Those promises have to be above politics, they have to be above rhetoric, they have to be above gamesmanship, and they're more important than tax cuts for the most wealthy and for corporations in our community."

Funding for the renovation was included in the Inflation Reduction Act.

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