Cafe au lait
Team Owner
EXCLUSIVE: President Joe Biden's massive infrastructure plan includes federal dollars to address housing, the environment and transportation in Black neighborhoods under the purview of the Justice Initiative.
According to Brenda Mallory, Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality at the White House, the program ensures 40% of the overall benefits from clean energy and climate change projects will be allocated to communities that have not historically been invested in.
Within President Biden’s $600 billion infrastructure proposal, is the effort to award government contracts to some minority companies that will do the work tied to climate projects.
Housing, which has been a top issue in Black communities, serves as a cornerstone of the infrastructure plan as well as Justice.
According to HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, the president has requested a 15% increase in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s budget, which equates to about $9 billion.
“We are looking at not only just being able to get people vouchers to move into other areas, especially into areas of opportunity. So there’s about 200,000 vouchers. But just as importantly, the president is talking about building as many as two million new housing units, low income and affordable housing,” Secretary Fudge told theGrio.
There is also a push to eliminate the dangerous and outdated lead piping in the nation that became a hot button issue about six years ago with the lead pipe water crisis in Flint, Michigan. As theGrio previously reported, lead in water systems has been a major issue for populations in public housing and would again fall under the purview of HUD . . .
Another piece of the infrastructure equity plan is highlighted by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg who called to mind that, “Black Americans are more likely to depend on public transit to get somewhere.”
Buttigieg is requesting that his department engages more in the study of the composition of communities as “people have to walk longer distances in low wealth neighborhoods and often in Black neighborhoods.”
Additionally, Black farmers are expected to gain a payout in the plan through guaranteed loan financing and grant funding from the Department of Agriculture for agricultural producers and rural small businesses who specialize in renewable energy systems or make energy efficiency improvements to their land.
According to Brenda Mallory, Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality at the White House, the program ensures 40% of the overall benefits from clean energy and climate change projects will be allocated to communities that have not historically been invested in.
Within President Biden’s $600 billion infrastructure proposal, is the effort to award government contracts to some minority companies that will do the work tied to climate projects.
Housing, which has been a top issue in Black communities, serves as a cornerstone of the infrastructure plan as well as Justice.
According to HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, the president has requested a 15% increase in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s budget, which equates to about $9 billion.
“We are looking at not only just being able to get people vouchers to move into other areas, especially into areas of opportunity. So there’s about 200,000 vouchers. But just as importantly, the president is talking about building as many as two million new housing units, low income and affordable housing,” Secretary Fudge told theGrio.
There is also a push to eliminate the dangerous and outdated lead piping in the nation that became a hot button issue about six years ago with the lead pipe water crisis in Flint, Michigan. As theGrio previously reported, lead in water systems has been a major issue for populations in public housing and would again fall under the purview of HUD . . .
How Biden's infrastructure plan targets billions for Black communities
President Biden's infrastructure plan includes funding for housing, the environment and transportation in Black neighborhoods.
thegrio.com
Another piece of the infrastructure equity plan is highlighted by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg who called to mind that, “Black Americans are more likely to depend on public transit to get somewhere.”
Buttigieg is requesting that his department engages more in the study of the composition of communities as “people have to walk longer distances in low wealth neighborhoods and often in Black neighborhoods.”
Additionally, Black farmers are expected to gain a payout in the plan through guaranteed loan financing and grant funding from the Department of Agriculture for agricultural producers and rural small businesses who specialize in renewable energy systems or make energy efficiency improvements to their land.