President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (PL 111-5) also known as the Stimulus Bill on February 17, 2009. The Act provides substantial funding for initiatives including homeownership, low-income housing, affordable housing, energy efficiency improvements and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

NeighborWorks America developed a summary [PDF] of many areas relevant to housing and energy efficiency. The provisions are grouped areas that may make it easier to see how this funding could align with your lines of business.

This funding represents substantial opportunities for local communities, and in many instances the direction for use of the funding will be administered at the state and local level:

• The Act provides that most of the funds go through new or existing programs in the Department of Energy and Department of Housing and Urban Development.
• Much of this funding will be passed on to states and cities according to the existing or revised formulas for these programs.
• Some of the funding will becompetitive at the federal level. In particular, the $250 million in energy efficiency retrofit funding for Project-based Section 8, Section 202 and Section 811 will be administered by the Office of Affordable Housing and Preservation.

For more information on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act see also:

Full bill

Bill overview [PDF]

Impact on Working Families [PDF]

HUD Recovery Act Programs