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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Friday awarded 84 public housing authorities across New York $321,476,119 to make large-scale improvements to their public housing units. The grants were part of nearly $1.8 billion HUD awarded to authorities nationwide.
Among the recipients were the Herkimer Housing Authority, which received $169,308; the Ilion Housing Authority, which received $171,787; and the St. Johnsville Housing Authority, which received $47,821. The grants were provided through HUD’s Capital Fund Program, which provides annual funding to all public housing authorities to build, repair, renovate and modernize the public housing in their communities. The funding can be used to make large-scale improvements such as new roofs and to make energy-efficient upgrades to replace old plumbing and electrical systems.
“This funding will help housing authorities address long-standing capital improvements, but it only scratches the surface in addressing the deep backlog we’re seeing across the country,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in a news release. “Today, we are closer to helping housing authorities and our private sector partners undertake their capital needs over the long haul. With the passage of HUD’s 2012 budget, Congress gave HUD the go-ahead to a new, comprehensive and critical demonstration tool that we believe will help preserve and enhance America’s affordable housing.”
Donovan said HUD’s rental assistance demonstration will enable public housing authorities and owners to continue to make standard life-cycle improvements to their inventory and modernize or replace obsolete units to stem the loss of stock from the private sector that choose to opt out of affordable housing programs. The demonstration, he said, will bring more than 60,000 properties into a reliable, long term, project-based rental assistance contract — and allow public housing authorities to raise more than $6.1 billion in private financing to reduce the backlog of capital repair needs and in the process, support job creation in communities across the country.
“We see Congress’ decision to allow this demonstration to begin as a victory, not only for HUD, but four countless communities that desperately want to improve their public housing and other affordable housing, as well as a victory for families who need quality housing they can afford and who want more options on where they might choose to live,” said HUD Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing Sandra Henriquez in a news release.
Henriquez said HUD, in 2011, released Capital Needs in the Public Housing Program, a study that updated the national estimate of capital needs in the public housing stock. The study found the nation’s $1.2 million public housing units are facing an estimated $25.6 billion in large-scale repairs.
Unlike routine maintenance, she said capital needs are the large-scale improvements required to take the housing decent and economically sustainable, such as replacing roofs or updating plumbing and electrical systems to increase energy efficiency.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Friday awarded 84 public housing authorities across New York $321,476,119 to make large-scale improvements to their public housing units. The grants were part of nearly $1.8 billion HUD awarded to authorities nationwide.
Among the recipients were the Herkimer Housing Authority, which received $169,308; the Ilion Housing Authority, which received $171,787; and the St. Johnsville Housing Authority, which received $47,821. The grants were provided through HUD’s Capital Fund Program, which provides annual funding to all public housing authorities to build, repair, renovate and modernize the public housing in their communities. The funding can be used to make large-scale improvements such as new roofs and to make energy-efficient upgrades to replace old plumbing and electrical systems.
“This funding will help housing authorities address long-standing capital improvements, but it only scratches the surface in addressing the deep backlog we’re seeing across the country,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in a news release. “Today, we are closer to helping housing authorities and our private sector partners undertake their capital needs over the long haul. With the passage of HUD’s 2012 budget, Congress gave HUD the go-ahead to a new, comprehensive and critical demonstration tool that we believe will help preserve and enhance America’s affordable housing.”
Donovan said HUD’s rental assistance demonstration will enable public housing authorities and owners to continue to make standard life-cycle improvements to their inventory and modernize or replace obsolete units to stem the loss of stock from the private sector that choose to opt out of affordable housing programs. The demonstration, he said, will bring more than 60,000 properties into a reliable, long term, project-based rental assistance contract — and allow public housing authorities to raise more than $6.1 billion in private financing to reduce the backlog of capital repair needs and in the process, support job creation in communities across the country.
“We see Congress’ decision to allow this demonstration to begin as a victory, not only for HUD, but four countless communities that desperately want to improve their public housing and other affordable housing, as well as a victory for families who need quality housing they can afford and who want more options on where they might choose to live,” said HUD Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing Sandra Henriquez in a news release.
Henriquez said HUD, in 2011, released Capital Needs in the Public Housing Program, a study that updated the national estimate of capital needs in the public housing stock. The study found the nation’s $1.2 million public housing units are facing an estimated $25.6 billion in large-scale repairs.
Unlike routine maintenance, she said capital needs are the large-scale improvements required to take the housing decent and economically sustainable, such as replacing roofs or updating plumbing and electrical systems to increase energy efficiency.
