NEW YORK, NY April 08, 2005 —A proposal by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could mean deep cuts for housing authorities across the state.

New York City's Housing Authority stands to lose $166 million or about 18 percent of its current operating costs according to an analysis of the proposal by the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities.

The trade group and The Department of Housing and Urban Development have been negotiating the shift to a new way of distributing HUD money. Executive Director, Sunya Zaderman says HUD's proposal undermines these negotiations.

ZADERMAN: It's not what we agreed to. It's not what we negotiated and it puts a considerable number of housing authorities at significant risk.

Nationwide the cuts equal about 500 million dollars. Smaller authorities such as those in Syracuse, Albany and Niagara falls will be hardest hit, according to the analysis.

HUD says the proposal disdtributes housing money based on what local agencies spend and not on when they estimate they will spend.

For WNYC: I'm Cindy Rodriguez