NYC Loses Control Of Funds

Bolstered by a court decision finding that New York City punished a homeless organization critical of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's administration, federal officials have decided to bypass city agencies in handing out millions of dollars in government money.

Speaking at a state Assembly social services committee hearing Tuesday, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo said the measure is aimed at taking politics out of helping the homeless, as WCBS-TV News Correspondent Paul Fleuranges reports.

"From now on, HUD will directly control the funds and the distribution," Cuomo said. "The homeless in the city of New York will get the same amount of funding, the groups will get the same amount of funding, but HUD will administer those funds directly rather than have any political impact by the city of New York."

Cuomo's revelation follows the Nov. 12 federal court ruling that found City Hall denied funding to Housing Works, a nonprofit agency, because its directors were at political odds with Giuliani. "Housing Works went through an excruciating battle for our right to be fairly ranked to provide housing to homeless people and homeless people living with HIV," said Charles King, co-executive director of the New York-based organization.

"We feel vindicated by the secretary's decision to have HUD administer these funds directly."

The mayor said the change was motivated by politics. Giuliani accused Cuomo, a Democrat, of playing politics, noting his support of Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate bid and that a regional HUD director under Cuomo, Bill DeBlasio, was recently named Mrs. Clinton's campaign manager.

To miss the connection, "I would have to be extremely naive, and I'm not," said Giuliani, who is expected to seek the Republican nomination to run for Senate. "There's no question that Andrew Cuomo runs a major league political operation."

Giuliani, however, said the city can't fight the change.

"I don't think we can," he said. "It's their money."

In his testimony, Cuomo also took issue with Giuliani's order for police officers to place homeless people in shelters. He described the plan as an emotional response to the highly publicized attack on Nicole Barrett, a Texas woman who was seriously injured when a panhandler smashed her skull with a brick. Although no one has been charged in the attack, Cuomo said the street crackdown is not designed to provide assistance to the homeless.

He also criticized Giuliani's controversial proposal to place homeless children in foster care.

"We agree with the mayor when he says there should be no criminals on the streets, but I couldn't disagree more when he suggests that the act of being homeless itself becomes a criminal act," Cuomo said.

Cuomo said the federal plan is expected to go into effect Wednesday and that organizations are to be notified of their funding levels over the next two weeks.

Later Tuesday, at a state Democratic Committee holiday party where Mrs. Clinton spoke, Cuomo's wife, Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, stood up and bragged about what Cuomo had done, saying: "Just a few hours ago, my husband pulled up the gauntlet."

She went on to criticize Giuliani's homeless policies and added: "Next time Rudy, pick on someone your own size."

Giuliani has ordered police to arrest homeless people who refuse orders to move from sidewalks. Judges have temporarily stopped a plan to evict from city shelters homeless adults who refuse to work.