Virginians will be eligible for $173 million in federal stimulus funds as part of a guaranteed loan program to help rural families buy homes.
In North Carolina yesterday, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced that the Department of Agriculture has begun releasing the first wave of $10 billion in guaranteed housing loans under the stimulus act.
Also yesterday, Sens. Jim Webb and Mark R. Warner announced that the General Services Administration has released $66.3 million in stimulus funds for energy-efficiency projects at five federal buildings in Virginia -- including the new federal courthouse in Richmond.
The funding includes $3.5 million to be spent on the six-story, $102 million Spottswood W. Robinson III and Robert R. Merhige Jr. United States Courthouse, at 701 E. Broad St., that opened in September.
The structure takes up an entire block and houses the Richmond divisions of U.S. District Court and U.S. Bankruptcy Court. There are nine courtrooms and 363,000 square feet of space.
According to Webb and Warner, both Virginia Democrats, the projects were selected because they promote energy efficiency, reduce operating costs and create construction jobs relatively quickly.
"Modernizing our federal buildings to perform more efficiently will create local jobs and save future taxpayer money on energy costs," Webb said in a statement.
As previously reported, tax credits are starting to show up in the paychecks of 2.9 million Virginia workers. The White House yesterday released a state-by-state analysis that said the tax credits will put $1.5 billion in Virginia workers' hands this year and next.
The credit, amounting to $400 a year for most workers, will reduce the taxes withheld from their paychecks by about $13 per week in 2009 and about $7.70 per week in 2010.
Virginia officials have said they are expecting $4.8 billion in stimulus funds, but the total likely will be much higher, because of the tax credits and grants coming directly from federal agencies.
Biden and Vilsack made the housing announcement at a volunteer fire station in Pikeville, N.C.
"By dedicating Recovery Act resources to our rural communities, we will be creating more jobs and making it possible for thousands more families in some of our hardest-hit areas to reach that goal of owning a good, safe home," Biden said.
The Agriculture Department says its housing programs "finance new or improved housing for very lowto moderate-income families and individuals in rural areas."
The department said that nationally, stimulus funding initially will provide 15,000 rural families with $1.76 billion in loan guarantees to finance homeownership, which the agency says will create or save about 7,500 jobs.
The department estimates that once all the stimulus funding for rural housing is released -- $7 billion directly to states and $3 billion in reserve for high-need areas -- it will create or save an estimated 42,500 jobs nationwide.
Contact Andrew Cain at (804) 649-6645 or acain@timesdispatch.com.
Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or fgreen@timesdispatch.com.
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