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Not all Americans are happy with the way Federal stimulus dollars are being spent. But it’s a safe bet that will not be the case with the families that move into the new affordable housing units the city plans to build with stimulus dollars.
The Houston Housing Authority says it’s getting 7.8 million dollars to build around 100 units. The families who move in will be low income and will pay about 30- percent of their pay checks. Steve Mikelman works for the Housing authority.
“The need in Houston is large, there’s 40-thousand families and seniors on our waiting list. And we know from the research that there’s over 283-thousand families in city of Houston that based on their income would be eligible for our program. So as you can see the need is very large and we’re always looking for resources to help us meet those needs.”
Of course there are those who might question how providing affordable housing is actually stimulating the economy. Mikelman says the answer is obvious.
“This does stimulate jobs. Because this has to do with construction and major repairs and all that has to do with either maintaining jobs or creating jobs with people who otherwise, would not be working.”
Bill Stamps, KUHF Houston Public Radio News.