HUD MAKES NEARLY $1 BILLION AVAILABLE IN RECOVERY ACT FUNDS TO IMPROVE PUBLIC HOUSING

Grants will help the elderly and disabled, boost energy efficiency and create jobs

WASHINGTON - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Donovan today 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.

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HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to sustaining homeownership; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development and enforces the nation's fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.

SECRETARIES GEITHNER, DONOVAN ANNOUNCE NEW DETAILS OF MAKING HOME AFFORDABLE PROGRAM, HIGHLIGHT IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS

Source: HUD.gov

Just Over Two Months after Release of Program Guidelines, Homeowners Realizing Relief under Administration Plan Join Secretaries to Share Personal Stories

WASHINGTON - With the Making Home Affordable (MHA) program delivering much-needed relief to homeowners and to our economy just over two months after the release of program guidelines, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan today provided an update on the program's impact on stemming the housing crisis and keeping families in their homes and announced new options for homeowners facing foreclosure. The announcement and update came following a meeting with housing counselors from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and with homeowners Nicholas Tekpertey of Reston, VA, and Warren Rohn of Lewiston, CA, who shared their success stories since participating in the Home Affordable Modification program.

"In just over two months, the Make Home Affordable program is up and running, helping our economy recover and making a difference in the lives and livelihoods of thousands of American homeowners. Historically low interest rates are allowing Americans to refinance and save money, and modifications are helping homeowners avoid foreclosure," said Secretary Geithner. "Today we are announcing a new program component to help homeowners obtain modifications in areas suffering from home price declines. If a modification is not possible, we are also announcing steps to encourage the quick private sale or voluntary transfer of property, which will save homeowners money and protect their financial future. These are critical steps in stemming the foreclosure crisis and stabilizing the housing market, both of which are critical to our economic recovery."

"I can't stress enough how important our HUD-approved counseling agencies are to the success of the Making Home Affordable program, and ultimately, to helping to keep American families in their homes," Secretary Donovan said. "That's why HUD has requested a $100 million investment in our Housing Counseling Assistance Program for fiscal year 2010, a $35 million increase from our 2009 budget. This investment will help further support the work of our 2,600 HUD-approved housing counselors across the nation, just like those at NCRC, who play a key role in ensuring that borrowers can take part in the modification and refinancing options made available through Making Home Affordable."

The Secretaries announced new details on the Making Home Affordable program:

• Foreclosure Alternatives provide incentives for servicers and borrowers to pursue short sales and deeds-in-lieu (DIL) of foreclosure in cases where the borrower is generally eligible for a MHA modification but does not qualify or is unable to complete the process, which helps prevent costly foreclosures and minimizes the damage that foreclosures impose on borrowers, financial institutions and communities. The new details will simplify and streamline the process of pursuing short sales and deeds-in-lieu, which will facilitate the ability of more servicers and borrowers to utilize the program. The program provides a standard process flow, minimum performance timeframes and standard documentation, and it offers financial incentives to servicers and borrowers to pursue these alternatives to foreclosure.



• Home Price Decline Protection Incentives will provide lenders additional incentives for modifications where home price declines have been most severe and lenders fear these declines may persist. To encourage the modification of more mortgages and enable more families to keep their homes, the Administration, building on insights pioneered by Chairman Bair and the FDIC, has developed an innovative payment that provides compensation based on recent home price declines. Together the incentive payments on all modified homes will help cover the incremental collateral loss on those modifications that do not succeed. HPDP payments will be linked to the rate of recent home price decline in a local housing market, as well as the average cost of a home in that market.

Since the launch of Making Home Affordable, more than one million Americans have now refinanced, due to historically low interest rates, and thousands of underwater borrowers have refinanced under the Home Affordable Refinance Program. Fannie Mae has had over 233,000 eligible refinance applications through its refinancing program, with more than 51,000 of these having loan-to-value ratios between 80% and 105%. More than 55,000 Home Affordable Modification offers have been extended to qualifying borrowers. Additionally, servicers have mailed more than 300,000 letters to homeowners who are potential candidates for the program. The refinance application volumes and modifications underway make clear the desire of homeowners to take advantage of the Administration's program.

Homeowners Nicholas Tekpertey and Warren Rohn have already seen the impact of the MHA modification program. In March, Tekpertey heard about the Home Affordable Modification from a friend, called his lender, faxed in his documents, and was qualified with relative ease. With this modification, he saves almost $600 per month and his payment is now affordable, with an annual total savings of $7,154. Warren Rohn received a Home Affordable Modification offer from his lender and was able to modify his loan with a 2% interest rate for five years.

"In February, I was facing foreclosure," Tekpertey said. "Making Home Affordable changed my situation, and gave me my home back. All homeowners who are worried about their mortgage payments should do what I did. Go to the website like I did. See if you qualify. This program is real, and this program works."

"This program saved my bacon," Rohn said. "Losing my trucking business was tough enough, but I'm not sure what I would have done if I lost my home. I want to say something to all the homeowners out there -- this program has made a real difference in my life. It's given me and my wife the security to know we're not going anywhere."

Making Home Affordable, a comprehensive plan to stabilize the U.S. housing market, was first announced by the Administration on February 18. The three part program includes aggressive measures to support low mortgage rates by strengthening confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; a Home Affordable Refinance Program, which will provide new access to refinancing for up to 4 to 5 million homeowners; and a Home Affordable Modification Program, which will reduce monthly payments on existing first lien mortgages for up to 3 to 4 million at-risk homeowners. Two weeks later, the Administration published detailed guidelines for the Home Affordable Modification Program and authorized servicers to begin modifications under the plan immediately. Fourteen servicers, including the five largest, have now signed contracts and begun modifications under the program. Between loans covered by these servicers and loans owned or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, Home Affordable Modification participants now account for more than 75 percent of all loans in the country.

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• MHAS Servicer Progress Report
• Biographical Sketches of Homeowners
• Making Homes Affordable Fact Sheet

HOPE VI Green Building and Energy Efficient Development Conference

Learn more about the HUD - HOPE VI Green Building and Energy Efficient Development Conference

Ashville HOPE VI

ASHEVILLE – Up to 320 of Asheville's poorest residents would be forced to move under a federal program to replace one of the city's most distressed public housing complexes with a mixed-income neighborhood.

Those who could be moved, as well as residents living near public housing, gave varied reactions to the HOPE VI program. The program would use private capital and about $15 million in federal money to overhaul one of two complexes: Lee-Walker Heights off Short Coxe Avenue or Aston Park Tower and Garden Apartments on South French Broad Avenue.

Getting the grant money is far from guaranteed. Asheville Housing Authority officials began the arduous and highly competitive application process last week. The federal government has not yet said when it will make a decision.

Some residents supported the program. Others, though, said it would tear apart tightly knit neighborhoods.

“I've been living in Lee-Walker Heights for six years, and I haven't had any problems,” said Celia McDow, 24, who lives in the complex just north of Mission Hospital with her son, 7, and daughter, 5. McDow works in the cafeteria at Ira B. Jones Elementary School and said she can get help from neighbors and walk to most places where she needs to go. That would change if she had to move.

“I really do love my community. Anything I need, my community is there for me,” she said.

Concentrated poverty

The concept behind HOPE VI is to disperse concentrated areas of poverty, which proponents of the program say foster crime and other social ills. Federal and private money is used to replace publicly owned housing with a mixed-income neighborhood of working- and middle-class as well as taxpayer-subsidized homes.

In past years, the grant has been difficult to get, but housing authority officials now think more money will be available. They hope to win a grant this year or next to overhaul one of the complexes.

Last year, four to five HOPE VI applicants were selected out of a field of about 30, said David Nash, the Housing Authority's chief operations officer. This year, funding was bumped up from approximately $100 million to $120 million, and there is hope that amount will rise to $600 million in years to come, he said.

The City Council has not taken an official vote on the issue, though some council members have expressed support for the program. That kind of backing will be vital in getting the grant. Housing authority officials plan to report back to the council in a month or two and will likely ask for financial help preparing the application.

One council member, Carl Mumpower, questioned whether the mixed-income model would work and said government shouldn't be spending money on such programs during a budget crisis.

Many Lee-Walker Heights residents also don't think the program would help them in the long run, resident McDow said. Officials may consider the complex dangerous, but residents feel it would be worse in other public housing, McDow said.

“They (residents) were really upset about the idea,” she said.

Housing authority officials said those who would be moved could choose to go to another public housing complex or into private housing that accepts public vouchers. They would get money to help them relocate, said Nash.

Every attempt would be made to allow relatives living in different households in one complex to stay together, he said.

Once the complex is rebuilt, people could apply to come back.

“Anybody who has a good rental history and meets the criteria, which is elderly, disabled or working, would be able to move back,” said Nash.

If all goes smoothly, construction could be finished in three years, he said. More HERE

Authors Of East Rome Redevelopment Plan Reveal Details

As reported by The Rome News Wire, Representatives from two of the firms that prepared the East Rome Revitalization Plan told city officials that they believe the project is a feasible possibility.

On Wednesday, John Skach of Urban College Inc. and Chuck Billard of TCG International presented a draft of the redevelopment plan that focuses around Maple Street and 12th Street.

“We did this in preparation for an application for HOPE VI funds,” Skach said.

The consulting team for the revitalization plan consisted of members of Urban College Inc., TCG International, Marketek and Rhodes Engineering.

The Northwest Georgia Housing Authority initially sought out proposals for the project and hoped to receive a HOPE VI grant award from HUD for the revitalization costs.

HOPE VI addresses the eradication of severely distressed public housing.

If approved, the HOPE VI award would provide $15 million in grant money while generating $47 million in total construction, new jobs and building supplies and an estimated $195,000 per year increase in property tax revenues.

The grant money could only be used on public housing, however, and not on items like railroad crossings.

Part of the plan calls for the demolition of 100 public housing units along with construction of 300 units, of which 100 would be public housing.

The other 200 units are what the consulting team are basing the source for the projected increase in property tax revenues of $195,000 per year.

The East Rome study area totaled 593 acres that extend from the north at the intersection of East 2nd Avenue and the rail line south to Hwy. 411. Maple Street closely bisects the area and is the main roadway through the study area.

Skach said creation of the draft revitalization plan consisted of five phases. More HERE

Community revitalization: Hope for tomorrow

As reported by Andrew Barksdale at The FayObserver, Anastasia Vann won’t miss her cramped, two-bedroom apartment in Campbell Terrace.

Staff photo by Octavio Jones
Anastasia Vann, a resident of Campbell Terrace Apartments, will be moving out her home in preparation for the Hope VI project. Watch an interview with Vann at fayobserver.com.

The vinyl floors are faded and gray, The concrete walls painted an egg-shell yellow. The windows look out over identical red-brick buildings.

The public housing complex, built on the edge of downtown in 1953, will be razed early next year. So will its older cousin, Delona Gardens, a block away.

For more than two generations, the housing projects have sheltered Fayetteville’s working poor and penniless. More than 90 percent of tenants today are unmarried women. About half have children living with them.

Beginning this month, they will start leaving as the city embarks on a $119
million project called Hope VI. The two housing complexes will be replaced by more than 550 apartments and 105 single-family homes throughout the Old Wilmington Road area, offering new hope for a blighted community dotted with empty lots and shuttered homes.

Vann, who is 43 and lives alone, has already begun packing, even though she hasn’t found a place to live. She would prefer to rent a house but will settle for a modern apartment. She wants to plant a garden and have more privacy.

“I want a new beginning,” she said.

About 213 families live in the two projects to be demolished. Everyone has two options: move to another Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority complex or find a private apartment or rental house. The housing agency estimates that two-thirds of the tenants will leave public housing in favor of the open market. When they do, they will get federal Section 8 program vouchers to subsidize their rents.

The decision can be difficult for some families, who worry about finding another school for their children or dislike the idea of uprooting after so many years in one place.

“Some are scared, but most of us are excited,” said Vann, a member of the Housing Authority’s residential advisory board.

The residents won’t do it alone. The Hope VI program will pick up the moving tab and pay other relocation expenses, and officials will help them find apartments or rental houses.

The linchpin of the project is a $20 million federal Hope VI grant, which the Housing Authority won last year. As part of the revitalization project, a community center, a day care and a medical clinic are planned. So is a 72-unit apartment complex on Bunce Road on the other side of town.

Everything has to be built by 2013. The first wave of construction is scheduled to begin this summer or early fall.

Getting outside help

To keep the project on track and handle the mounds of paperwork, the housing agency sought an outside consultant last year. The board hired Boulevard Group Inc., an Atlanta firm with experience overseeing other Hope VI projects, to manage this one. More HERE

The $694,000 project - Part of the Alamito Hope VI project

EL PASO --

As reported by Aileen B. Flores at the Elpaso Times, The El Paso City Council recently approved the street reconstruction and drainage improvements of St. Vrain Street in Segundo Barrio.

The $694,000 project is scheduled to begin in November with a projected seven-month construction period, said Julie Baldwin, spokeswoman for the El Paso Engineering Department.

Construction crews will replace the existing road with two lanes and a parkway on both sides, new sidewalks, handicap ramps and new street lights and signs, Baldwin said.

The water lines, storm and sanitary sewers under the street will also be replaced, she said.

Construction on St. Vrain will be from Delta Drive to Father Rahm Avenue.

The project is part of the Alamito Hope VI project and will be funded by the city and Housing Authority of El Paso. Construction will be under contract to Quest Contracting Inc. of El Paso, according to a city document. More HERE

RFP: Hope VI Grant Application, Revitalization Plan and Program Management Services

RFP: Hope VI Grant Application, Revitalization Plan and Program Management Services:
The Houston Housing Authority hereby solicits proposals from qualified professional consulting firms to provide services for the Development of a Hope VI Grant Application, Revitalization Plan and provide Program Management Services for the revitalization of Kennedy Place and Kelly Village Housing Developments as specified in RFP No. 09-02.

Interested offerors may obtain the Request for Proposals package by contacting:ANNA SIMOTASPURCHASING OFFICERHOUSTON HOUSING AUTHORITY2640 FOUNTAINVIEW, SUITE 408HOUSTON, TEXAS 77057(713) 260-0554 FAX: (713) 260-0556

The Request for Proposals is available on the Internet at http://www.housingforhouston.com/.

The Pre-Proposal Conference is rescheduled for Thursday, February 12, 2009, at 3:00 p.m. (CST) in the Houston Housing Authority Boardroom, 4th Floor, 2640 Fountainview, Houston, TX 77057.

The proposals must reach the Houston Housing Authority no later than 4:00 P.M. (CST) on February 18, 2009. Proposals received after the deadline will be rejected unless the conditions allowed for late submittals exist for consideration as specified in the RFP.

A Fair Housing and Equal Employment Opportunity Agency. For assistance: Individuals with disabilities may contact the 504/ADA Administrator at 713-260-0528, TTY 713-260-0547 or 504_ADA@housingforhouston.com

The Housing Crisis - "Older Americans are getting whacked twice,"

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At 94, Sylvia Merlin is stuck.

MSN reports in it's article, Seniors crushed by housing crisis, the widow can't sell her home or fall back on her investments. She's lost $200,000 in the stock market since the beginning of 2008, she says. Like a growing number of seniors, she's been unable to move into the retirement community she had planned to because of the shattered housing market and her dwindling retirement portfolio.

And Merlin is running out of time: Her health is deteriorating, and her home is increasingly unlivable.
94 and nowhere to go

"Older Americans are getting whacked twice," says Thomas Shapiro, the director of the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University, and the co-author of a study titled "Living Longer on Less." "Home equity, which is their largest reservoir of wealth and their largest expense, has taken a tremendous hit. Portfolios have taken the same hit as everyone else, but seniors don't have the same length of time to dig themselves out."

Elderly Americans with fixed incomes are increasingly being compelled to make seemingly impossible decisions, Shapiro says, such as choosing between paying their housing bills or their medical costs.

More than 54% of all senior households "do not have sufficient financial resources to meet median projected expenses based on their current financial net worth, projected Social Security and pension incomes," according to the Brandeis study.

Some seniors are moving in with their children because they can't pay all the bills. Census reports show multigenerational families are on the rise in part, experts say, because of the housing and larger economic crisis. An estimated 3.6 million parents (not all of them elderly) live with their adult children, according to 2007 census data, up from 2.3 million in 2000, an increase of 57%. In those households, the number of parents 65 and older was up 62%.

Others are turning to reverse mortgages, loans available for seniors 62 and older that allow them to get cash based on the value of their home with no monthly mortgage payments. Such a loan is repaid out of proceeds from the eventual sale of the home or from the borrower's estate after his or her death. More HERE

Rebuilding Begins In New Orleans

Work finally starts after delays at New Orleans’ ‘Big Four’

By Bendix Anderson

NEW ORLEANS—Since the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina poured into the C.J. Peete public housing complex here, Jocquelyn Marshall and her son have traveled from an emergency shelter in Tunica, Miss., to an apartment in Houston, and then to an apartment in another New Orleans neighborhood.

It’s been a long voyage for Marshall, who still hopes to return to C.J. Peete.

The possibility for that return came a little closer to reality Jan. 6, when workers started to build the first phase of new apartments at C.J. Peete. As president of the residents’ association, Marshall spoke at the groundbreaking along with developers, city and federal officials, and former residents.

“It was a beautiful, sunny day— a day of excitement,” she says.

Hope and delay

After years of protest and delay, work has begun on the first new apartments at C.J. Peete and St. Bernard, two of New Orleans’ “Big Four” public housing sites slated for redevelopment after Hurricane Katrina. The redevelopment of the other two Big Four sites isn’t far behind. As of February, officials expected work to start at the Lafitte and B.W. Cooper projects in 2Q2009.
More than 3,000 mixed-income apartments in the four redevelopments are slated to open by 2011.

That’s well behind the projects’ original time frames outlined in 2006. Lawsuits, local approvals, and the chaos in the nation’s financial markets have delayed the projects.

However, developers and officials have made good use of the extra time by including residents in the process of designing the redeveloped communities and living up to the principles of successful public housing redevelopments undertaken over the last decade under the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) HOPE VI program.
“This investment is going to last for decades. The additional time was important,” says Vince Bennett, executive vice president for McCormack Baron Salazar, the St. Louis-based developer redeveloping C.J. Peete.

A tight time frame

In June 2006, more than nine months after Hurricane Katrina tore through the city, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson announced his plan to demolish 4,500 units of public housing at four of the largest public housing sites in the city and rebuild the sites as mixed-income housing in just a few years.

The plan includes a mix of homeownership, public housing apartments, housing subsidized with low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs), and apartments renting at market rates.

Wrapping around a new gym, Railton Place serves young adults aging out of foster care
and chronically homeless adults and veterans.



Increasing Need

The demand for affordable housing continues to grow across
the nation, with no signs of easing.
• In 2006, 39 million households were at least moderately cost
burdened (paying more than 30 percent of income on housing),
and nearly 18 million were severely cost burdened (paying
more than 50 percent). From 2001 to 2006, the number
of severely burdened households alone swelled by almost 4
million.

• The number of households with “worst-case housing” needs
in 2005 was 5.99 million, comprising 13.4 million individuals.
This is an increase of 817,000, or 16 percent, from 5.18 million
in 2003. Households with worst-case needs are defined as
unassisted renters with very low incomes who are either paying
more than half of their incomes for housing or living in
severely substandard housing. The group with the largest
increase in worst-case needs from 2003 to 2005 was families
with children—475,000 households.

• The proportion of American households that had worst-case
needs in 2005 was 5.5 percent, up from 4.9 percent in 2003.
• All regions of the country shared in worst-case needs, and all
regions experienced increases: 208,000 households in the
Northeast; 143,000 in the Midwest; 338,000 in the South;
and 129,000 in the West in 2005.

Sources: Department of Housing and Urban Development and Joint Center for
Housing Studies at Harvard University

Read More HERE

Learn More About HUD Recovery Act Programs

Source: HUD.gov

The Recovery Act includes $13.61 billion for projects and programs administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, nearly 75 percent of which was allocated to state and local recipients on February 25, 2009 – only eight days after President Obama signed the Act into law. Recovery Act investments in HUD programs will be not just swift, but also effective: they will generate tens of thousands of jobs, modernize homes to make them energy efficient, and help the families and communities hardest hit by the economic crisis. The remaining 25 percent of funds will be awarded via competition in the coming months. Additional guidance on the implementation of all funds will be routinely provided on this website.

Promoting Energy Efficiency and Creating Green Jobs

These investments are powerful vehicles for economic recovery because they work quickly, are labor-intensive, create jobs where they are needed most, and lead to lasting neighborhood benefits. Many will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save Americans money by retrofitting housing to make it more energy efficient.

Public Housing Capital Fund: $4 billion invested in energy efficient modernization and renovation of our nation's critical public housing inventory.

Native American Housing Block Grants: $510 million invested in energy efficient modernization and renovation of housing maintained by Native American housing programs, and the development of sustainable communities.

Assisted Housing Energy Retrofit: $250 million invested in energy efficient modernization and renovation of housing of HUD-sponsored housing for low-income, elderly, and disabled persons.
Lead Hazard Reduction: $100 million invested in lead based paint hazard reduction and abatement activities.

Supporting Shovel-Ready Projects and Assisted Housing Improvements

These investments will support a broad range of housing and community development projects that are ready to go. Many of these projects have been held up for lack of private investment due to fallout from the broader economic crisis and credit crunch.

Tax Credit Assistance Program: $2.25 billion invested in a special allocation of HOME funds to accelerate the production and preservation of tens of thousands of units of affordable housing.

Community Development Block Grants: $1 billion for approximately 1,200 state and local governments to invest in their own community development priorities. Most local governments use this investment to rehabilitate affordable housing and improve key public facilities – stabilizing communities and creating jobs locally.

Project-Based Rental Assistance: $2 billion invested in full 12-month funding for Section 8 project-based housing contracts. This funding will enable owners to undertake much-needed project improvements to maintain the quality of this critical affordable housing.
Promoting Stable Communities and Helping Families Hardest Hit by the Economic Crisis
These investments will help communities and families that have experienced the brunt of the economic downturn. Resources will be used to stabilize and revive local neighborhoods and housing markets with heavy concentrations of foreclosed properties. Funds will also assist the vulnerable families and individuals who are on the brink of homelessness or have recently become homeless.

Neighborhood Stabilization Program: $2 billion invested in mitigating the impact of foreclosures through the purchase and rehabilitation of foreclosed, vacant properties in order to create more affordable housing and renew neighborhoods devastated by the economic crisis.
Homelessness Prevention: $1.5 billion invested in preventing homelessness and enabling the rapid re-housing of homeless families and individuals, helping them reenter the labor market more quickly and preventing the further destabilization of neighborhoods.


Overview of the Recovery Act

HUD Implementation of the Recovery Act

Learn More About HUD Recovery Act Programs

Community Development Block Grant

Project-Based Rental Assistance

Lead Hazard Reduction/Healthy Homes

Homelessness Prevention Fund

Tax Credit Assistance Program

Native American Housing Block Grant - Formula

Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant

Public Housing Capital Fund - Formula

Funding Allocations by State

Transparency and Accountability Guidelines

Agency Plans and Reports

Weekly Report of March 3, 2009 [Excel]

HUD Sec - Personally disturbed" and even "angry" by the sluggish pace of rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina

The Washington Times reports Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan on Thursday told residents he is "personally disturbed" and even "angry" by the sluggish pace of rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, while Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano promised the new administration would make the Gulf Coast region a priority.

The Cabinet secretaries, sent by President Obama to assess the rebuilding efforts, said the federal government has freed hundreds of millions of dollars for affordable housing, moving assistance and rebuilding fire and police stations destroyed during the 2005 storm.

"To be honest, we have been disturbed by what we have seen and what we have not seen in terms of progress," Mr. Donovan said at a press conference with Ms. Napolitano, who said she has been asking "why" the red tape has been so thick.

"This will not be the last time we are here," Ms. Napolitano said. "This will not be the last time I ask, 'Why?'"

They announced the funding news at the conclusion of their New Orleans listening tour, drawing cheers from local officials gathered at the site of a key redevelopment project.

The tour began Thursday as both Ms. Napolitano and Mr. Donovan spent a few hours at a university that remains only 50 percent usable, a home rebuilt by a nonprofit and a crop of freshly painted affordable homes built over the leveled remains of the upper Ninth Ward.

While Mr. Donovan acknowledged the innovation of the New Desire Redevelopment project, built at the site of a construction project leveled during Katrina, but said he was frustrated that "far too little progress" has been made on housing in New Orleans.

Mr. Donovan said the rebuilding work had been "too often about programs and rules" instead of about places and people.

"We have much much more work to do and we've got to get to it today," he said.

The secretaries announced that HUD had accepted Louisiana's $438 million long-term disaster recovery plan, built around the 2008 hurricanes Gustav and Ike — which will produce affordable rental housing, business assistance and coastal restoration.

Mr. Donovan announced a new five-year, $50 million program for permanent housing for more than 1,000 homeless families and people living with substance abuse issues or mental illness.

HUD also announced $23 million in rental assistance vouchers that would help an estimated 2,000 elderly and disabled disaster victims.

Ms. Napolitano said Benjamin Franklin High School could be reopened with FEMA providing the last $2.9 million of its needed funding.

"They've waited far too long, so let's get with it and let's get with it now," she said.

She said she has cleared public assistance FEMA funding to replace two police stations and one fire station and $12 million toward repairs for a water treatment plan. She also said she would extend the department's relocation assistance program — up to $4,000 in reimbursement for moving expenses — so anyone who incurred expenses from Katrina until May 1 this year could receive the money.

Earlier, the secretaries heard the "heart-wrenching" story of Lawrence Scurich, a veteran in his 80s who waited three years before he could return to a rebuilt version of the home he loved. He wiped away tears as he showed them his home, one of a series the St. Bernard Project nonprofit has helped to rebuild.

"What we have seen today makes us disturbed, angry even, to see some of the families living the way that they have and we pledge to you our partnership to a new beginning here in New Orleans and across the Gulf," Mr. Donovan said.

He announced a program to help people who missed a key housing deadline because of poor communication, urging the city's residents to call 866/785-3239 to see whether they qualify for assistance.

Also attending the press conference was newly designated FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, the leader of Florida's emergency team, whom Mr. Obama nominated on Wednesday to lead the agency.

Mr. Donovan was to head to Texas while Ms. Napolitano was scheduled to tour the coast in Mississippi. More HERE