CUOMO ANNOUNCES $1.6 MILLION IN HUD ASSISTANCE TO SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY IN CALIFORNIA

WASHINGTON -- Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today announced $1.6 million in loan guarantees to San Luis Obispo in California.

Cuomo said $1 million of the loan guarantees will be transferred from the City of San Luis Obispo to the City's Housing Authority to help buy two sites that will be developed by the San Luis Obispo Non-Profit Housing Corporation as low- and moderate-income housing.

The other $650,000 of the loan guarantees will finance seismic safety improvements and handicapped accessibility to the San Luis Obispo County Historical Museum.

Additional funds will be available from the Housing Authority and other HUD programs to assist with the total cost of the projects.

"These loan guarantees will strengthen HUD's partnership with San Luis Obispo," Cuomo said. "This is an example of the type of wise investment by the Clinton Administration that is helping communities around the nation."

HUD's Economic Development Loan Guarantee Fund provides communities with a source of financing for job creation, housing rehabilitation, and construction of public facilities and large-scale development projects. The majority of jobs created by each project are available to people with low and moderate incomes.

The loan guarantees, also known as the Section 108 program, save communities money by reducing the interest rate they are charged on loans from commercial lenders. The guarantees also make loans more readily available and often attract other sources of funding from local and state governments, non-profits and the private sector to complete financing for major job creation activities.