HUD makes nearly $1 billion available in Recovery Act funds to improve public housingMortgagePress.comHUD, public housing, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary
Shaun Donovan has announced that HUD is offering nearly $1 billion
to make substantial improvements to thousands of public housing
units nationwide. The Public Housing Capital Funds being offered
today are provided through The American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) and are designed to help selected public
housing authorities improve the quality of their housing stock,
promote energy efficiency and create jobs.
In March, HUD allocated nearly $3 billion in Recovery Act
funding to more than 3,100 public housing authorities across the
U.S. Distributed by formula, that funding is already being put to
work to improve public housing and create safer, more livable
environments for lower income residents. This additional $1 billion
will be awarded competitively.
"Today we are making another substantial investment to improve
public housing in America and to create jobs and grow local
economies," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "The funding in the
Recovery Act signed by President Obama will give local housing
agencies the resources they need to provide quality housing,
especially for the elderly and persons living with disabilities.
These funds will also help to transform distressed public housing
projects, improve energy efficiency and lower the operating costs
for housing authorities."
Public Housing Capital Funding will be awarded competitively
through a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) that can be
accessed on HUD's Recovery Act website. HUD will accept
applications from public housing authorities from June 1 until July
21, 2009 for the Energy Efficiency funding category and from June 1
until August 18, 2009 for the other three funding categories. HUD
will review and award grants to PHAs that effectively address the
requirements in the NOFA for the following four funding
categories:
• Energy Efficiency: $600 million is available for PHAs to
create more energy efficient public housing units.Applications are
due for this category on July 21, 2009.
• Financing Stalled Projects: $200 million is available to
allow PHAs to develop or renovate public housing projects stalled
due to lack of resources.
• Public Housing Transformation: $100 million is available
to transform obsolete public housing projects into newly built or
renovated developments.
• Housing for the Elderly/Persons with Disabilities: $95
million is available to improve public housing units and create
community facilities for the delivery of medical and other services
to this vulnerable population.
HUD's Capital Fund Program provides annual funding to public
housing authorities to develop, finance, and/or modernize the
public housing in their communities. This funding can be used to
make large-scale improvements such as new roofs and for the
replacement of plumbing and electrical systems to increase energy
efficiency.
For more information, visit www.hud.gov.
