Florida, Ohio Receive Federal Funding to Improve Public Housing

The United States government is giving Florida and Ohio a $50 million and $74 million funds, respectively, to improve public housing.

According to Fox35, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said the grant will be used to do some major improvements including roofs replacement and old plumbing and electrical systems upgrades. The upgrade will make public housing more energy efficient and modernized.

Meanwhile, public housing organizations in Ohio will receive an allocation from the $74 million funding from HUD for large-scale repairs and renovations, Fox8 reported. The largest allocation goes to Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority at $19 million. Cincinnati will get $9 million, while Dayton and Columbus will receive $5 million.

HUD said that since 2000, the nation has seen a net loss of 135,000 public housing, which translates to an average loss of 9,000 units every year. This comes despite the government's billions of investments in building and maintaining them. A third-party independent report that the department released in 2011 also revealed that 1.1 million public housing in the country need a hefty $25.6 billion in large-scale improvements.

HUD is giving more than $1.8 billion funding in all states in the U.S. to make necessary capital improvements. District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands will also receive an allocation. Hawaii Public Housing Authority and the Guam Housing & Urban Renewal Authority are set to receive $10.6 million, according to KHON2, HUD's Capital Fund Program will provide the fund to 3,100 public housing authorities across the country.

Meanwhile, AllGov.com reported that HUD might introduce new regulations that would require public housing authorities to identify those families who are already "overqualified" for a subsidized housing and should be evicted. This consideration has emerged after a recent report from the department's inspector general revealed that 2.5 percent of families in the U.S. public housing are already earning big income to qualify for housing assistance.