NeighborWorks America has announced grants totaling $35 million to 119 organizations working to finance the rehabilitation of affordable housing nationwide.

Made possible by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010, which was signed into law on December 19, the Capital Funding for the Rehabilitation of Affordable Housing (CFRAH) grants will enable local NeighborWorks organizations to develop or continue to support the rehabilitation of residential rental housing acquired or soon to be acquired by the organizations and will also fund revolving loan funds for owner-occupied properties as well as the rehabilitation of single-family homes acquired by organizations for sale to homeowners.

CFRAH grantees include NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, which will upgrade and make environmentally sustainable all units in its oldest low-income housing tax credit development; the Primavera Foundation in Tucson, Arizona, which will purchase and rehabilitate up to ten bank- or investor-owned homes in South Tucson and sell them to first-time homebuyers; and two NeighborWorks-affiliated capital corporations, Community Housing Capital and NeighborWorks Capital. It is expected that the funding will create more than eleven hundred local jobs and that for every dollar awarded an additional $10 in investments will be generated.

"We thank Congress for their ongoing support of affordable housing needs in our nation's communities," said NeighborWorks America CEO Ken Wade. "Because of the grants announced today, thousands of rental and owner-occupied units will be rehabilitated, the majority through the use of state-of-the-art green strategies, which will not only recreate a healthier home for families, but also support healthier communities."