HUD AWARDS $1 MILLION TO EXPAND AFFORDABLE HOUSING TO REVITALIZED DOWNTOWN AREA OF KIT CARSON, COLORADO
Six small towns receive $5.5 million to include affordable housing to "Main Street" revitalization

DENVER - The downtown area of Kit Carson, Colorado, will get a housing makeover due to a $1 million grant announced today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The funding is designed to expand
the production of affordable housing to the rural communitys historic central business district or Main Street area.

HUD Regional Administrator Rick Garcia said that Kit Carson is among six communities with populations less than
50,000 that will receive funding under HUDs HOPE VI Main Street program to encourage affordable housing
production in their city centers.

"Raising capital to build affordable housing can be a challenge when small towns give their downtowns a facelift,"
said Garcia. "This funding provides Kit Carson the tools it needs to create affordable housing for lower income
families so they can share with the broader revitalization of their downtown."

The Kit Carson Main Street Affordable Housing Project will develop five affordable detached homes for rental or homeownership, depending upon the communitys needs. The Kit Carson Rural Development, a non-profit organization whose mission is rural economic development in the area, will manage the grant.

Kit Carson, a rural community of roughly 250 residents, has been working on Main Street rejuvenation for many
years. Then, the City applied for a HOPE VI Main Street grant to address the Citys lack of decent, affordable
housing. Kit Carson Rural Development (KCRD), staffed with two employees, has considered options to purchase five properties. Plans include the following: 1) rehabilitate two (presently uninhabitable) 2-bedroom houses; 2) construct two 3-bedroom detached housing units currently located on empty lots; and 3) demolish a house on the fifth
property and replace the house with a 3-bedroom detached housing unit.

The team for the Kit Carson Main Street Affordable Housing Project includes the Town of Kit Carson, Kit Carson
Rural Development, The Kit Carson Historical Society, Dan Grinnan LLC. (Contractor), Eric Richardson Construction, and the Design and Build Program at Colorado University Denver.

These grants are issued through HUDs HOPE VI Main Street program that allows small towns to include affordable housing in their ongoing effort to revitalize older, downtown business districts. A portion of HOPE VI funds are set aside to create the Main Street program for small communities that do not have local housing authorities or have
one that manages less than 100 public housing units. The funds are used to rehabilitate or construct affordable housing in the area where rejuvenation has already begun.

Also receiving 2009-2010 Main Street funding are Martin, South Dakota; the Municipality of Coamo, Puerto Rico; Hawkinsville, Georgia; Marshalltown, Iowa; and Wrangell, Alaska.

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HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.