Broadcaster Press 11 February 16, 2016 www.broadcasteronline.com HUD Awards More Than $1.6 Firstchoice Scholarship Million To Improve, Preserve Applications Available First Dakota National Bank announces the 2016-2017 Public Housing In South Dakota FirstChoice Scholarship applications are available. to Eighteen $1,000 scholarships are awarded annually DENVER – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro today announced HUD is allocating $1,678,229 to public housing authorities in South Dakota to make needed capital improvements in their properties. View a complete list of all the public housing authorities awarded funding. The grants announced today are provided through HUD’s Capital Fund Program, which offers annual funding to approximately 3,100 public housing authorities across the country to build, repair, renovate and/or modernize the public housing in their communities. These housing authorities use the funding to complete large-scale improvements such as replacing roofs or making energy-efficient upgrades to replace old plumbing and electrical systems. To help provide residents with decent, safe and sanitary housing and respond to the growing demand for affordable rental housing, the Obama Administration proposed the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), a comprehensive strategy that complements the Capital Fund Program and offers a long-term solution to preserve and enhance the country’s affordable housing stock, including leveraging public and private funding to make critically needed improvements. “HUD has a responsibility to provide public housing residents with a quality and safe roof over their heads,” said HUD Secretary Julian Castro. “This funding, in addition to assistance from the private sector through HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration Program, will help housing authorities address longstanding capital improvements and preserve and enhance America’s affordable housing.” “This funding helps to preserve critical public housing units here in the Rocky Mountain West Region which provides safe, affordable rental housing to individuals and families who are most in need,” said HUD Region VIII Regional Administrator Rick M. Garcia. “With a $25 billion capital improvements backlog for rental housing around the country, leveraging these funds with other local financial sources can help maximize the modernization and preservation of low-income rental housing units.” For more than 75 years, the federal government has been investing billions of dollars in developing and maintaining public housing – including providing critical support through the Capital Fund grants announced today. Nonetheless, there has been a net loss of over 135,000 public housing units since fiscal year 2000, representing an average loss of ap- proximately 9,000 units annually. In 2011, HUD released Capital Needs in the Public Housing Program, a third-party independent study that estimated the capital needs in the public housing stock in the U.S. The study found the nation’s 1.1 million public housing units are facing an estimated $25.6 billion in large-scale repairs. Unlike routine maintenance, capital needs are extensive improvements required to make the housing decent and economically sustainable, such as replacing roofs or updating plumbing and electrical systems to increase energy efficiency. Since Congress authorized the RAD demonstration in November of 2011, early results show it is generating significant additional capital for public and assisted housing. HUD has made awards to 60,000 public and assisted housing units in more than 340 different projects across the country. Through these awards, housing authorities have proposed to generate approximately $3 billion in capital repairs by leveraging private debt and equity, which will preserve or replace distressed units and support local jobs in their communities – all without additional federal resources. high school seniors or college students attending a post-secondary accredited American college, vocational technical school or university. Applicants are judged on leadership, school and civic involvement, satisfactory scholastic progress and demonstrated financial responsibility. There are many reasons why you should apply for the FirstChoice Scholarship. The cost of college tuition and housing is expensive. The FirstChoice scholarship is a great way to help pay for school – it is $1,000 you don’t have to pay back! First Dakota is making an investment in you to help pay your educational expenses. If you don’t apply – you don’t get the chance to be awarded a FirstChoice scholarship. If you do apply – you have a chance. All applicants must have a FirstChoice Checking account to qualify. Applications need to be postmarked by March 7, 2016. Contact any First Dakota location for an application or download at firstdakota.com. First Dakota was founded in 1872 and holds the first bank charter issued in all of Dakota Territory. It has 18 full-service banking locations in 14 South Dakota cities. It also has six loan production offices throughout South Dakota and Nebraska.