Lautenberg: 'There seems to be a pattern of failure for the state to take advantage of federal funding opportunities'
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U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, shown in this file photo, criticized the Gov. Chris Christie administration this week for slow progress in spending $29 million in stimulus funds to weatherize nearly 3,900 N.J. homes.TRENTON — New Jersey’s U.S. senators are targeting the Christie administration for slow progress in the state’s weatherization program, saying a state agency has done little with $29 million in federal money.
The program is part of a nationwide effort, funded through President Obama’s stimulus plan, to put unemployed people back to work making homes more energy efficient. But the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency has finished a fraction of the nearly 3,900 homes it is responsible for as the March 31 deadline approaches.
Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg (both D-N.J.) wrote a letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu asking for an extension so the state can finish its weatherization projects. If it doesn’t, it will have to return any unspent federal funding.
"Too many New Jersey working-class families are struggling, and at this difficult time, they can hardly afford to let a chance like this slip by," the senators wrote on Tuesday.
Lautenberg added in a statement, "There seems to be a pattern of failure for the state to take advantage of federal funding opportunities."
The senators’ letter says the Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency hasn’t completed any units. But the state Department of Community Affairs, which administers the program in the state, said the agency has finished at least 308 units in the Northgate housing complex in Camden. It is also on track to complete another 350 housing units by the end of the month, and work has started on another 513 units, said spokeswoman Lisa Ryan.
But once all those units are completed, the Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency will have only finished less than a third of its 3,900-unit goal. Ryan did not say whether the agency was on track to meet the March 31 deadline, and did not comment on the senators’ request for an extension.
"The word on the street is that they’re not going to use all their dollars," said Raymond Ocasio, executive director of La Casa de Don Pedro, a Newark-based nonprofit group that does weatherization work.
The U.S. Department of Energy has received requests for extensions from several states but has not decided whether to grant them yet, said spokeswoman Jen Stutsman. The federal stimulus plan pumped $5 billion into the nationwide weatherization program with the goal of improving 593,000 homes. Stutsman said more than 500,000 have been finished so far.
The $29 million allocated to the Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency is only one piece of the weatherization program in New Jersey. In total, $118.8 million in federal money was budgeted for more than 13,400 homes in the state.
Most of the responsibility for weatherizing homes rests with a network of nonprofit and local government agencies that work with the state. As of Oct. 6, they’ve completed 8,400 homes and spent $39,081,802, according to Community Affairs.
The program’s oversight was criticized in three state auditor reports. But production rates improved after a slow start.
However, the weatherization program’s training component struggled. The state labor department canceled its course in August 2010 because not enough graduates were finding work. Only 184 people graduated from the program, far short of the original 600-person goal. Although $1.37 million was spent, only 34 were connected with jobs through the program.