Prepared Remarks for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan at the Bow Highlands Press Conference

Bow, New Hampshire
Friday, June 4th, 2010

Thank you. Its great to be with all of you today here at Bow Highlands to see how President Obamas Recovery Act is creating jobs here in Bow -- and to share with Granite Staters some great news about our economy.

Weve just learned this morning that in May, our economy created 431,000 jobs.

When the President signed the Recovery Act into law last year, he said it would do three things: help those harmed by the economic crisis, lay a new foundation to make America competitive in the 21st century economy -- and most important of all, create or save 3.5 million jobs in two years.

Now, some said President Obama was being wildly optimistic. People saw us losing 700-to-750,000 jobs a month in the days right after we took office and thought there was no way we could turn it around inside of 24 months. They said he was way off.

Well, today -- we see that they were right. Because today, with some 3 million jobs created already in only 16 months, it looks as though President Obama might actually have been under-estimating how many jobs the Recovery Act would create.

To date, the Recovery Act has created 12,000 New Hampshire jobs -- and saved the jobs of some 630 teachers across the state.

Of course, Im not here to tell you were out of the woods.

You and I both know that no government program is going to replace the 8 million jobs that were lost as a result of this economic crisis.

No government program can undo the harm that was done to our economy and our middle class.

But with five straight months of job growth, let there be no doubt that our economy is on the road to recovery and that America is creating jobs again.

And if you look around us here at Bow Highlands, you can see why. You can see for yourself how Recovery Act investments are not only creating good-paying jobs -- theyre jumpstarting the affordable housing development communities around the country need to sustain those jobs.

Its a far cry from where we were not too long ago. When our economy crumbled and our credit markets froze, so did the affordable housing investments states were able to make, stopping developments like Bow Highlands dead in their tracks.

Virtually overnight, as many as a thousand developments stalled -- 150,000 affordable rental homes across the country.

But with the Recovery Act, we were able to change that.

Within six months after the President signed the Recovery Act, which provided $2.25 billion in Tax Credit Assistance Program funding to help move stalled projects like Bow Highlands, every dollar was made available to be spent -- helping get those developments moving again, and putting construction workers back on the job.

In all, TCAP funding will complete construction on an estimated 35,000 units of affordable housing nationwide. Just as importantly it will create tens of thousands of jobs, including 97 jobs here at Bow Highlands alone.

So, this day represents an important step toward recovery.

While the worst of the economic crisis may have passed, we still have work to do. This Administration wont be satisfied until every American who wants a job can get a job.

Thats why we need Congress to finish the job -- and pass a jobs bill that builds on the kinds of successes we are seeing today.

But with the progress we are seeing in communities across the country, let there be no doubt that we not only can create jobs today -- we are doing it.

Let there be no doubt that we not only can help families today -- we are doing it.

And let there be no doubt that we not only can start laying the groundwork for a stronger, more resilient economy for the years to come -- we are doing it, right now, here in New Hampshire.

That is what the Recovery Act is about -- and its why Im glad to share this opportunity and this news with you today. Thank you.

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