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U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Lawrence S. “Larry” Roberts today announced that the Obama Administration has exceeded its goal of placing half a million acres of tribal homelands into trust for federally recognized tribes.

The Washington State Housing Finance Commission has honored six individuals as “Friends of Housing” for their work to create, support and advocate for affordable housing in Washington state.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to the States of North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes due to Hurricane Matthew. This week, President Obama issued a disaster declaration for the following counties

Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) welcomed the release of a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on innovation for clean energy.

Mayor Muriel Bowser joined District residents and officials to celebrate the unprecedented investment of over $100 million from theHousing Production Trust Fund (HPTF). The $106.3 million supports 19 projects that will produce or preserve more than 1,200 affordable housing units in all 8 wards.

Congresswoman Aumua Amata, announced today that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a grant in the amount of $8.9 million to American Samoa for water infrastructure projects.

On Friday, Mayor Bowser will join District leaders to celebrate a promise fulfilled: the unprecedented expenditure of $100 million from the Housing Production Trust Fund. The $100 million investment is supporting 19 projects that will create or preserve more than 1,200 affordable housing units. Since coming into office, Mayor Bowser has committed $100 million annually to the fund – more than any city per capita in the country.

Scientists with the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the first time discovered how to make perovskite solar cells out of quantum dots and used the new material to convert sunlight to electricity with 10.77 percent efficiency.

The White House is announcing the expansion of the Opportunity Project and the launch of twenty-nine new digital tools built by companies and non-profit organizations to increase access to opportunity in communities across the country.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today unveiled an innovative partnership with community development organizations from across the country, providing $401 million ofCommunity Facilities program funds to recipients with a track record of successful programs to help reduce poverty in some of the nation's poorest and most isolated rural communities.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced the appointment of 34 members to the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (REEEAC). Initially established in 2010, the REEEAC is comprised of senior-level private-sector representatives that advise the Secretary of Commerce on the development and administration of programs and policies to expand the export competitiveness of U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency products and services.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro will lead the U.S. delegation to the United Nations (UN) Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador from October 17-20, 2016. The Conference is intended to renew commitment to sustainable urban development, address poverty and identify and address emerging global challenges

As outlined in President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today proposed utility benchmarking of water and energy in its portfolio of public and assisted, as well as newly-insured, multifamily housing.  This new ‘utility benchmarking’ initiative would apply to approximately 2.2 million units across several categories of HUD-assisted affordable housing: developments with Project Rental Assistance Contracts, multifamily properties with mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) with more than 250 public housing units

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that it is awarding $38 million under its Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) to confront discriminatory housing practices. HUD's grants will support some 155 national and local fair housing organizations working to confront violations of the nation's landmark Fair Housing Act (see grantee list below)

Mayor Bowser and U.S. Army take first step to transfer land to ensure District of Columbia International School is built by 2017 school year. Washington,...

The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today released the most recent set of available data (July 2016) on the number of District of Columbia residents hired to work at federal construction sites in the District and D.C. small businesses with subcontracts at the sites.  These projects were not hiring from any jurisdiction in July, but D.C. representation among workers held steady.  The same was true of subcontracting, with no sites adding subcontractors from any jurisdiction

Branch Banking & Trust Company (BB&T) has agreed to pay the United States $83 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly originating and underwriting mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that did not meet applicable requirements, the Justice Department announced today.  BB&T is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert A. McDonald announced the award of $3.4 million in grant funding offered through the Grant and Per Diem (GPD) Program to 16 community agencies that provide enhanced services for homeless Veterans with special needs

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency that administers AmeriCorps, today announced the expansion of its innovative Resilience AmeriCorps program to 55 tribal communities through partnerships with Conservation Legacy, American Indian Higher Education Consortium, Enterprise Community Partners, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Tribal Housing Authorities.

To help advance housing, jobs and educational opportunities for justice-involved youth, HUD and the Department of Justice today announced $300,000 in grants to Public Housing Authorities (PHAs)and legal assistance organizations in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. These grants willaddress challenges justice-involved individuals face when trying to find work and a place to call home. Read below a complete project-by-project summary of the programs awarded funding today