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Rahall Announces Release of Funding for Public Housing and Department of Transportation 

3/24/2009 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Nick J. Rahall, II (D-WV) today announced the release of funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to the Department of Transportation (DOT) Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER) grant program.

 

“Shovel-ready projects in southern West Virginia could benefit greatly from funding from these programs,” said Rahall. “I supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to bring funding back to West Virginia, to put people back to work and to put our economy back on the path to success and stability.”

 

Funding consists of the release of $3 billion for HUD’s Capitol Housing grant program, including $3,384,629 in previously announced grant awards to Housing Authorities across southern West Virginia, and an additional $100 million for DOT’s TIGGER grant program. Housing Authorities, including those in Mingo, Raleigh and Boone County, and Huntington, Mount Hope, Williamson, Beckley and Bluefield, received notification of their award of grant funding in February 2009 for upgrades and maintenance to public housing structures. In addition, HUD will release an additional $1 billion towards competitive grants through the ARRA.

 

Also announced, DOT will release $100 million nationwide to fund the TIGGER grant program. Projects will compete for a portion of the funds on the basis of how much their proposed capital investment is expected to reduce either energy consumption or greenhouse gases, or both. The maximum proposal amount is $25,000,000, and the minimum is $2 million. The FTA will allow multiple transit agencies to consolidate their projects within one proposal to reach the minimum level. Transit agencies or consolidated proposals can be submitted on behalf of transit agencies by other organization such as State Departments of Transportation.  Grants will be made for particular projects directly to public transportation agencies. In addition to the anticipated reduction in energy or greenhouse gasses, the projects will be rated on their return on investment, whether the project is ready to implement, the capacity of the applicant, the degree of innovation in a project, and the national applicability of a project. More information, including TIGGER application instructions, is available at http://www.fta.dot.gov.

Rachael Berkey