Funding to address housing, infrastructure, commerce, jobs
WASHINGTON, DC – April 21, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced a competition for nearly $65 million to confront housing, infrastructure and employment challenges faced by tribal communities nationwide. The funds are intended for communities seeking to improve or create housing and economic development opportunities for low- to moderate-income families. The competitive grants are provided through HUD’s Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG) Program to support a wide variety of community development and affordable housing activities.
“These grants go to the very heart of the development needs in our nation’s tribal communities,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “The communities that compete for these grants demonstrate enormous creativity and hard work in leveraging the funds to build better housing, create more jobs, and improve neighborhoods from the ground up. These types of projects are at the backbone of our nation’s recovery.”
The application deadline for this year’s ICDBG grants is June 15, 2011. The ICDBG program was established in 1974 to help Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages to meet their community development needs. Federally recognized Indian tribes, bands, groups or nations (including Alaska Indian, Aleutes and Eskimos,) or Alaska Native villages compete for this funding.
Communities can use the funding to develop viable communities, including rehabilitating housing or building new housing or to buy land to support new housing construction. The funding can also used to build infrastructure such as roads, water and sewer facilities, to create suitable living environments. To spur economic development, recipients use the grants to establish a wide variety of commercial, industrial and agricultural projects. Recipients have used the funding to build community and health centers, or to start businesses to support the community, such as shopping centers, manufacturing plants, restaurants or convenient stores/gas stations.
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HUD’s mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.
Contact:
Elena Gaona
(202) 402-6627
