(Washington, DC) – The District of Columbia will receive $94.5 million thus far from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

HUD awarded more than $10 billion or 75 percent of a total $13.6 billion to states and cities across the country, including the District, to fund programs including foreclosure prevention and mitigation; homelessness prevention; community development; affordable housing; and lead hazard prevention.

The remaining 25 percent of recovery funds, which will be competitively awarded later, will be used to build on the Obama Administration’s priorities to promote green jobs and mitigate the destabilizing effects of foreclosures on communities.

HUD’s funding and awards to the District include:

• $2 billion for Project-based Rental Assistance, of which the District of Columbia will receive $40.9 million to invest in full 12-month funding for Section 8 project-based housing contracts. These funds will be administered by the DC Housing Authority.
• $3 billion in Public Housing Capital Funding, of which $27 million will go to the DC Housing Authority for immediate improvements to public housing.
• $2.25 billion in Tax Credit Assistance Program Funds, of which the District of Columbia will receive $11.6 million to assist Low Income Housing Tax Credit properties (9 percent and 4 percent) which have not been able to find adequate private investment. (Note: Applies only to projects assigned tax credits in 2007, 2008 or 2009 and priority will be given to projects that can begin construction immediately and can reach completion by 2012.) These funds will be administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development.
• $1.5 billion in Homeless Prevention Funds (through the Emergency Shelter Grant program), of which the District of Columbia will receive $7.5 million. These funds will be administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development.
• $1 billion in CDBG Funds, of which the District of Columbia will receive $4.9 million to use for a variety of purposes including but not limited to investments in the creation and preservation of affordable homes. These funds will be administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development.
• $100 million in Lead Hazard Reduction/Healthy Homes funds, of which the District will receive $2.6 million to invest in lead based paint and hazard reduction and remediation activities under the Lead Safe Washington Program (LSW). These funds will be administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development.

Still to be awarded by HUD are funds that could boost District programs that will help stabilize areas of the city hardest hit by foreclosures (Low Income Housing Tax Credit Enhancement and Neighborhood Stabilization Program) and assist low and moderate income homeowners with low interest loans to apply energy efficient upgrades to their properties (Section 202/Section 8 Energy Retrofit Program).

District agencies are moving quickly to identify projects and develop spending plans for HUD’s approval. The District intends to make public those plans on recovery.dc.gov, a one-stop resource for information about how the enacted federal stimulus bill will impact District residents and businesses.