The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Friday announced that it is allocating nearly $30 million to public housing authorities in Minnesota – including more than $7 million to the Public Housing Agency in St. Paul – to make capital improvements to their properties.
The grants are through HUD's Capital Fund Program, which offers annual funding to approximately 3,100 public housing authorities across the country to build, repair, renovate and modernize public housing. These housing authorities use the funding to complete large-scale improvements such as replacing roofs or making energy-efficient upgrades to replace old plumbing and electrical systems.
In St. Paul, money will go to several different projects to modernize units, replace windows and improve elevators, said Dave Lang, construction program manager for the Public Housing Agency. "There is quite a backlog," he said.
Public Housing Agency – St. Paul owns and manages 4,262 units of public housing in the city, worth approximately $614 million. The agency also administers rental vouchers for another 4,639 housing units through its Section 8 program.
