Project Rebuild to Help Create Jobs and Stabilize Home Prices
WASHINGTON, D.C. – October 10, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman toured the Commons at Third project, adjacent to Grandview to demonstrate how the President Obama’s proposed American Jobs Act and Project Rebuild can help stabilize home prices, revitalize neighborhoods, create jobs, and support local economies throughout the City of Columbus.
“Our previous neighborhood stabilization efforts have worked as evidenced by the over one hundred workers that the Commons at Third project has employed,” said Shaun Donovan, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “Now we must continue to put more people to work revitalizing homes and businesses that were once foreclosed. The State of Ohio could receive over $577 million for Project Rebuild when the American Jobs Act and Project Rebuild is passed by Congress, that would help create more jobs for American workers and revitalized neighborhoods across the state.”
“By rebuilding neighborhoods devastated by the economic crisis, we will improve surrounding property values, create new jobs, and foster long-term economic growth,” Brown said. “Project Rebuild would put vacant properties to good use and target funds to the hardest-hit communities so we can jump start economic growth and strengthen our communities.”
Project Rebuild will create nearly 200,000 jobs, and at the same time stabilize home prices in neighborhoods hard hit by foreclosures. Previous neighborhood stabilization efforts enacted by Congress over the last three years since the housing crisis began are on track to support nearly 90,000 jobs and address more than 95,000 vacant and abandoned properties.
The City of Columbus has been allocated at total of $50.8 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program Funds. 22.8 million in (NSP1), 22.2 in (NSP2) and $4.8 in (NSP3).
“If not for the support of President Obama and HUD, Columbus would not be in the strong position we’re in today,” Mayor Michael B. Coleman said. “Thanks to the President and Secretary Donovan, we are creating jobs and improving the lives of our residents.”
Building on the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, Project Rebuild incorporates new elements such as the inclusion of revitalization of commercial properties and partnerships with for-profit organizations and stronger partnerships with non-profit organizations to an already successful program, and that will help create more jobs and have a much more immediate impact to the local economy.
If approved by Congress, Project Rebuild would invest $15 billion in proven strategies that leverage private capital and expertise to rehabilitate hundreds of thousands of properties in communities across the country. Building on the successful ideas developed during the implementation of the Neighborhood Stabilization Project (NSP), Project Rebuild would include the following innovative ideas:
- Allow for the revitalization of commercial properties
- Include For-Profit Entities to Gain Expertise, Leverage Federal Dollars and Speed Program Implementation
- Increase Support for “Land Banking”
- Create Jobs Maintaining Properties and Avoiding Community Blight
Project Rebuild is fundamentally an investment not just in hard hit places but also in the families who live there – the millions of homeowners who have seen their property values decline through no fault of their own, just for being near a foreclosed property. Its inclusion in the American Jobs Act reflects President Obama’s belief that rebuilding neighborhoods is essential to rebuilding our economy.
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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 http://espanol.hud.gov. You can also follow HUD on twitter @HUDnews, on facebook at www.facebook.com/HUD, or sign up for news alerts on HUD’s News Listserv.
Contact:
Ashley Gammon
(202) 320-3709
