The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was signed into law by President Obama on February 17th, 2009. A component of ARRA focuses, inter alia, on the “deferred maintenance” or capital improvements of public housing inventory throughout the United States.  Overall, ARRA provides through the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) Public Housing Capital Fund Program $4 billion to be invested in energy efficient modernization and renovation of public housing inventory.

1. What conditions have been placed on the money awarded by the ARRA act?
2. How will safety and security be affected?
3. What upgrades for resident services will be made?
4. How will our communities be more beautified?
5. What changes will be made in our communities?

Pursuant to the Act (and based on a capital fund formula), the Indianapolis Housing Agency (IHA) was awarded $5,064,069. Receipt and use of the funds, however, are conditioned upon certain requirements and regulations being followed. As an example, the following conditions must be adhered to by IHA:

The Revitalization Plan - Application of the ARRA Award

Paramount to IHA's mission will be addressing significant and measurable improvements in the financial, physical and environmental conditions of IHA's residents. To this end, IHA is ideally situated for the ARRA award. Pursuant to IHA's 5-year plan, IHA has strategically begun the process of developing financial and operational plans for the renovation of eight (8) of its family and elderly/disabled communities. With the additional dollars provided by ARRA, IHA can advance its renovation schedule, provide much needed enhancements to our community safety and security efforts, build on our new risk management initiatives, and aggressively expand our residential services for the families of the communities.

Resident Services: The National economy has undoubtedly created significant hardships on local economies and residents of those local areas.  IHA recognizes that our residents are some of the most vulnerable groups in the local population. Consequently, IHA is actively analyzing strategic options while working with various service providers throughout the City to begin the process of anticipating "demand" and addressing current "need". In our preliminary assessments, IHA is positive that our low-income population will require the following:

Beautification: Often public housing is mischaracterized as "housing of last resort". This notion has pervaded through many levels of government throughout the Nation's history including at the local levels. IHA does not take this position. Furthermore, we are strong advocates for enhancing the living environment of our residents and preserving the dignity and respect that our residents deserve. Consequently, IHA is placing attention on improving the environmental conditions of the communities, not only by renovating units, but by improving the community grounds and amenities.
      It is also significant to note that HUD recently required all public housing authorities to begin a formal process of converting their public housing operations to an asset management based model. Stated another way, public housing authorities, such as IHA, must operate their communities as though they are independent, self-sustaining entities that operate from the revenue the community generates and the subsidy that it receives from HUD. As a part of the process, IHA must account and manage the communities at the "project" level (this is similar to what the private market does).
      With the new asset management framework, the marketability of our communities, i.e., the "appeal" of our communities is also a very important element to managing a financially viable community. Therefore, in the interest of operating a successful community, the beautification of the communities becomes an integral part of the ARRA improvements.

Unit Renovations: IHA's public housing inventory (communities) has historically been improved through limited funding provided by HUD's Capital Fund Program. Consequently, much of the needed capital improvements to buildings (in some cases buildings almost 40 years old), remain unaddressed. IHA intends to attack this problem of "deferred maintenance" by strategically implementing a plan that will effectively utilize the ARRA award so that the communities can be modernized to 21st Century standards.