Mikulski, Cardin Announce $9.88 Million from HUD for Energy Efficient Senior Housing in Hagerstown

September 21, 2009

by Maryland RealEstateRama

Category: News || Housing & Development | No Comments

WASHINGTON, DC – September 18, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) — U.S. Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin (both D-Md.), today announced that the Department of Housing and Urban Development is awarding the Hagerstown Housing Authority $9,879,750 in a competitive Public Housing Capital Fund grant for construction of a “green” public housing project for seniors at the site of the former H.L. Mills Station in Hagerstown. This shovel-ready project will be a 60-unit, four-story, LEED Certified building. The energy efficient design calls for using geothermal energy for heating, Energy Star appliances and construction standards, and other techniques for water and energy conservation. Construction is expected to begin before the end of this year.

“These federal funds will help take the burden off Hagerstown seniors and Maryland’s communities by bringing down monthly energy and water costs,” Senator Mikulski said. “At the same time, this grant will bring new, good-paying green jobs to Hagerstown, while hastening our nation’s transition to a more sustainable and secure energy future.”

“Energy efficient and water-conserving design isn’t just good for the environment; it makes financial sense and will help lessen expenses for some of our most vulnerable citizens. Seniors who live in this new Hagerstown community will have lower energy and water costs, generating savings for them and the community,” said Senator Cardin, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “Today’s grant announcement also brings valuable jobs to Hagerstown at a critical time, when our state and the nation are continuing to put our economy back on track.”

The Public Housing Capital Funds awarded today are provided through The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) and are specifically designated for the creation of energy efficient communities through substantial rehabilitation or new construction of public housing developments. Activities include, but are not limited to, development of connections to neighborhoods and green space; site improvements that provide surface water management techniques that capture, retain, infiltrate and/or harvest rainfall; water conservation through the use of water-conserving appliances, fixtures and efficient irrigation; energy efficiency that meets Energy Star standards for new construction; and use of renewable energy resources.

In February, just eight days after President Obama signed the Recovery Act into law, 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. The funding being announced today is part of an additional $1 billion in Public Housing Capital Funds designated by the Recovery Act to be awarded competitively.

HUD’s Capital Fund Program provides annual funding to public housing authorities to develop, finance and/or modernize the public housing in their communities.

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