By Lester Chang
The Sunnyvale City Council will ask the federal government for nearly $2 million to build homes, renovate rental units, feed the poor and provide legal services to senior citizens.
But the decision, made at a council meeting on May 6, came amid protests from some who complained that the money might be used to benefit illegal aliens.
Three members of the audience asked the council to adopt a policy to screen community organizations that will seek a slice of the $1.4 million in Community Development Block Grant money and $481,000 in HOME funds--federal money to help cities create housing.
The funds would be used in the 1997-98 fiscal year.
"The American people do not want their tax dollars spent on illegals," resident Harry Lorenz told the council. The council and federal government, through the screening, should help "protect this country against illegals coming into this country."
Sunnyvale resident Joe Lavelle said the United States doesn't have "the resources to support the rest of the world."
The federal government does not require cities to conduct such screenings in order to qualify for the money.
Councilman Landon Noll said the idea of a screening process repulsed him and that the people seeking it were racist.
"I have a personal policy of zero tolerance for bigotry," he said, a remark that triggered counter comments from some audience members.
The City Council said it might study the request in the future.
The request for the federal funds will be sent to the federal Housing and Urban Development Department for review.
The request was part of a city plan identifying housing needs and resources to develop housing, officials said.
The five-year "Consolidated Plan" focuses on the city's strategy to construct affordable housing, including the acquisition, rehabilitation and construction of homes by nonprofit developers.
Some of the $1.4 million in block grant money would go to Catholic Charities Shared Housing and Ombudsman programs; Cupertino Community Services; Emergency Housing; Outreach; Senior Adult Legal Assistance, a program that provides legal services to the elderly; Sunnyvale Community Services; and the city's housing acquisition and rehabilitation and rental programs.
The biggest chunk--about $1 million--would go to the city's housing and rehabilitation programs, officials said.
The block grant funds also will be used in ways other than housing development. Sunnyvale Community Services seeks $16,000 for a nutrition program for the elderly. The Second Harvest Food Bank is hoping for $5,400.
The Mountain View-based Support Network for Battered Women applied for $43,470. The group served 900 Sunnyvale residents last year, the organization said.
The $481,000 in HOME funds have not be allocated for specific projects, but they will be used to acquire, build and rebuild rental housing, officials said.
The City Council also approved a $5,000 grant to the Community Association for Rehabilitation, despite objections from the city's staff, which recommended that no funding be granted. But the Housing and Human Services Commission pushed for the grant, down from the $24,000 initially requested by the group, which serves people with developmental disabilities. The commission said the city has not funded any other groups addressing residents with those needs.
City staff members worried about offering a grant to new organizations while federal funding shrinks, according to city documents.
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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, May 14, 1997.
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