$13.6 Billion Dollars – The Recovery Act of 2009
The recovery act of 2009, sounds great but does anyone know what it is all about? If you don’t then maybe you should because it represents around $13.6 billion dollars of US tax payers money and is being administered by HUD (The department of Housing and Urban Development). The objective of the recovery act of 2009 is to modernize homes to make them more energy efficient, to create tens of thousands of jobs in the process and to help families and communities hardest hit by the economic crisis.
Fine sentiments indeed and if successful the impact should be relatively quick but should also have a long lasting effect with ongoing savings on home energy costs. One aspect of the program is the Home Buying Tax Credit Scheme which has been discussed in previous posts. The Home Buying Tax Credit Scheme comes under the broader category of Supporting Shovel-Ready Projects and Assisted Housing Improvements which is one of the major initiatives of the recovery act. In all there are 3 major initiatives: -
- Promoting Energy Efficiency and Creating Green Jobs
- Supporting Shovel-Ready Projects and Assisted Housing Improvements
- Promoting Stable Communities and Helping Families Hardest Hit by the Economic Crisis
What it boils down to is providing projects for people to work on i.e. creating jobs, that will have a long term economic benefit and will at the same time be environmentally friendly. It is also intended to provide funding where there was once private investment that has disappeared as a result of the economic crisis. The final part of the initiative is to regenerate areas that have been hit by high levels of foreclosure, prevent more foreclosures and bring houses that are lying empty back into the housing market.
