Copyright © 2011 Albuquerque Journal
The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded a total of $2.8 million to three New Mexico pueblos to renovate and build housing, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said Tuesday.
Donovan said every dollar of HUD money will be matched with about $3 of private investment.
Receiving the funds were:
♦ San Felipe Pueblo Housing Authority, which received $1.7 million to help build a LEED-certified subdivision on pueblo land and to train pueblo members for construction jobs.
♦ Taos Pueblo, which will use an $800,000 HUD grant and other funds to renovate 320 units in the historic pueblo over nine years and to create retail and business space. Donovan said the pueblo will train members on traditional building techniques.
♦ Northern Pueblos Housing Authority, which will use a $300,000 grant to fund renovation of four historically significant homes on Picuris Pueblo.
Donovan said HUD expects the grants to create about 70 new jobs.
The grants were part of a Rural Innovation Fund program that this week awarded a total of $28 million to 27 award recipients in 19 states.
Donovan was in the metro area to tour the University of New Mexico Hospital in Rio Rancho, which received a $143 million loan insured by HUD’s Federal Housing Administration. Donovan’s tour was canceled when his plane to Albuquerque was delayed.
Housing markets are stabilizing, but it will take a stronger economic recovery to move the nation past the housing crisis, Donovan said. Home prices are “roughly even” with early 2009 prices after “falling off a cliff” from 2006 levels, he said, and foreclosures are down a third since President Barack Obama took office.
The administration is trying to support housing values by helping unemployed workers stay in their homes, Donovan said.
— This article appeared on page C2 of the Albuquerque Journal
