1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

We’re all acutely aware that our City is in the throes of a $1 billion budget crisis but did you know that Long COVID will cost Los Angeles $12 billion more over the next five years? You can rescue them both by stopping a decision that will make both worse. Council File 24-0500-S3 reprograms $13.15 million in federal pandemic relief, including $4.23 million in CDBG-CV funds. These funds were meant to support long-term recovery from the pandemic, namely housing, health access, disability services, and income stabilization. Instead, this plan spends them on low-priority HVAC systems, streetlights, and small business grants. It meets no pandemic urgency. It solves nothing. The pandemic is not over and continues for 270,000 Angelenos now living with Long COVID. One in four cannot work. Nearly half have lost income. People are losing housing, care, and jobs. These are the people who were left out of the adopted plan. These are the same groups served by the Department on Disability and the AIDS Coordinator’s Office, now also expected to suffer by this reprogramming. HUD CPD Notice 20-08 is clear. CDBG-CV funds must “reasonably and principally” respond to the effects of COVID. Long COVID, disability fallout, and HIV-related services fall squarely within that scope. This is not an interpretation. It is federal policy. Spending these funds on projects with no COVID relevance is a misuse of that relief with questionable legality. You can still veto this file until June 2. We are asking you to reject CF 24-0500-S3 and send it back with direction to use the funds where they are legally allowed and urgently needed: pandemic recovery, not backlogged capital work. We are not asking the City to do this alone. A robust, informed, and organized Long COVID network is ready to assist. Experienced partners bring high-value support that can reduce costs, clarify priorities, and make implementation smoother from the start. The expertise is already here. What’s needed now is your leadership. Please don’t let this money go where it won’t help. Let it go where it can still prevent deeper loss. Veto CF 24-0500-S3 and send it back so these funds can support Long COVID recovery, protect HIV services, and meet the real public health and disability needs this crisis has left behind.