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Stimulus 101: What it Means for Preservation

Need help navigating the 1000+ pages of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act? Explore preservation-related line items (as well as suggested actions and strategies) in the following subject areas:

• Brownfields
• Historic Preservation
• Transportation
• Energy Efficiency
• Economic Development
• Housing
• Public Lands & Infrastructure
• Schools
• U.S. Department of Agriculture

Brownfields

Stimulus Line Item: $100 million dollars for the Environmental Protection Agency's brownfields program.

• Opportunity: Money could be used to clean up polluted areas located in or adjacent to historic districts stimulating reuse and redevelopment.
• What You Can Do: Encourage government officials to target funding to areas where clean up would have beneficial consequences for historic resources.
• Threat: The Environmental Protection Agency is not as experienced as other agencies in conducting Section 106 reviews.
• Opportunity: Insist that all projects be subject to full Section 106 review and compliance. Support funding for state historic preservation offices so they have the staff in place to review EPA-funded projects.

Historic Preservation

Stimulus Line Item: $15 million for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) for campus historic rehabilitation projects.

• Opportunity: Restoration and rehabilitation projects for historic buildings at HBCUs. Visit the U.S. Department of Education for a complete list of HBCUs. 
• What You Can Do: Partner with HBCUs in your city or state and encourage good preservation projects. Visit the National Park Service for complete guidelines and to download an application. Deadline: April 10, 2009.

Transportation

Stimulus Line Item: $26.8 billion for road and bridge modernization in states, of which 3% must be spent on transportation enhancements (TE), which can fund historic preservation projects.

• Opportunity: Enhancement dollars can fund a full range of preservation projects in your state, including train station restoration, façade programs and more.
• What You Can Do: Visit the National Transportation Enhancements Clearinghouse to learn about the TE program in you state. Contact your state's enhancements coordinator to advocate for preservation projects, and make sure that any good preservation projects that have been languishing are brought to the attention of elected officials.
• Threat: Road and bridge modernization projects may be fast tracked, which could undermine historic preservation reviews.
• What You Can Do: Insist that all projects be subject to full Section 106 review and compliance. Support funding for state historic preservation offices so that they have the staff in place to review transportation projects. Visit the Federal Highway Administration for examples of strategies and approaches for addressing limited availability of staff and funding for transportation projects and environmental reviews.

Stimulus Line Item: $1.5 billion in discretionary grants for interstate rehabilitation, reconstruction of overpasses and interchanges, bridge replacements, seismic retrofits, road realignments, and some public transportation projects.

• Opportunity: Reconstruction projects, retrofits and other improvements could restore and preserve historic bridges and roads.
• What You Can Do: Contact your state's Department of Transportation to find out what projects are being proposed. Where appropriate, encourage restoration and repair over replacement.
• Threat: As with modernization grants, projects may be fast tracked, which could undermine historic preservation reviews.
• What You Can Do: Insist that all projects be subject to full Section 106 review and compliance. Support funding for state historic preservation offices so that they have the staff in place to review transportation projects.

Energy Efficiency

Stimulus Line Item: $6 billion for the renovation and repair of federal buildings, of which $4.5 billion will go towards converting the General Services Administration's (GSA) facilities into high performance green buildings.

• Opportunity: Restoration, rehabilitation and re-greening of historic, federally-owned buildings in your community. These buildings will be selected by the GSA, which is developing specific guidelines addressing windows, roofing, lighting and HVAC systems.

Stimulus Line Item: $3.2 billion for energy efficiency and conservation block grants (EECBG) to assist local governments in implementing energy efficiency and conservation strategies.

• Opportunity: Local governments can apply for competitive grants for energy audits and retrofits for historic buildings.   
• What You Can Do: Work with your local government to identify projects. Encourage them to register with FedConnect. For detailed guidelines, visit the Department of Energy. To assist, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has prepared a EECBG fact sheet. The application due date for states is May 26, 2009, and June 25, 2009, for cities, counties and Indian tribes eligible for direct formula grants from the Department of Energy.

Stimulus Line Item: 30% non-business energy tax credit for homeowners.

• Opportunity: Historic homeowners could use this credit to make their homes more energy efficient.
• What You Can Do: Advertise the credit to historic homeowners in your state. Visit the Department of Energy for a outline of eligible expenditures.

Stimulus Line Item: $5 billion Department of Energy weatherization program for low-income and fixed income households.

• Opportunity: Historic homeowners could use this credit to make their homes more energy efficient.
• What You Can Do: Advertise the credit to historic homeowners in your state. See the Department of Energy's two-page fact sheet on the energy weatherization program.

Stimulus Line Item: $250 million for assisted housing energy retrofit grants/loans for energy retrofits and green investments to property owners with project-based rental assistance.

• Opportunity: Historic affordable housing property owners could use this credit to make their properties more energy efficient.
• What You Can Do: Advertise to affordable housing property owners in your state. Visit HUD for a complete program description.

Economic Development

Stimulus Line Item: $1 billion for community development block grants (CDBG) to assist economic development.

• Opportunity: Could provide significant funding for main street communities and urban areas including building restoration, façade programs, street improvements, parks and landscapes, and more.
• What You Can Do: Identify historic preservation projects that would be a catalyst for economic revitalization. Work with your mayor and city government to apply for federal funding for these projects.
• Threat: The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development has been asked to expedite these projects, raising concerns that Section 106 might be waived.
• What You Can Do: Insist that all projects be subject to full Section 106 review and compliance. Support funding for state historic preservation offices so that they have the staff in place to review CDBG funded projects.

Stimulus Line Item: $2 billion for neighborhood stabilization grants to help communities purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed and/or vacant properties in order to create more affordable housing and reduce neighborhood blight.

• Opportunity: Could provide significant funding for restoration and rehabilitation of historic resources, especially in areas affected by foreclosures.
• What You Can Do: Visit HUD for program guidelines and work with city and state officials to identify historic communities that could benefit from this program. Application Deadline: September 1, 2009. 
• Threat: Although the program includes caps on demolition, it does allow demolition as an eligible expense.   
• What You Can Do: Encourage rehabilitation and reuse over demolition. Check out the recent report, The Challenge of Foreclosed Properties: An Analysis of State and Local Plans to use the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, prepared by Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.

Stimulus Line Item: $5 billion annually for new markets tax credits.

• Opportunity: New markets tax credits have proven to be a powerful tool for historic rehabilitation.
• What You Can Do: Learn about the new markets tax credits and then work with the National Trust Community Investment Corporation to identify historic preservation projects in your community that could benefit from the credit.

Housing

Stimulus Line Item: $2.25 billion to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's HOME Investments Partnerships Program for capital investments in low-income housing.

• Opportunity: Could be used for rehabilitation of historic buildings to provide affordable housing, especially in states whose qualified allocation plan for low-income housing tax credits provides incentives for restoration over new construction.
• What You Can Do: Contact your state housing officials to find out how they are planning to allocate and use these funds. Argue that projects that restore historic buildings as affordable housing can also use the historic rehabilitation tax credit, and are a green alternative to new construction.

Public Lands & Infrastructure

Stimulus Line Item: $125 million to the Bureau of Land Management for maintenance, rehabilitation and restoration;  $180 million for construction and "energy-efficient retrofits of existing facilities; " $589 million for construction within the National Park Service, which includes "repair and restoration of historical structures." Visit the Department of the Interior for a list of 800 stimulus-funded projects.

• Opportunity: Could bring much needed money for the restoration and preservation of historic resources on federal lands.

Schools

Stimulus Line Item: $8.8 billion in state stabilization funding may be used for the modernization, renovation or repair of public school facilities, including those that are consistent with a green rating system. Visit the U.S. Department of Education for detailed information and a report on the program.

• Opportunity: Could provide funding for rehabilitation and retrofits of older and historic schools (e.g., those listed on state and local endangered lists or those threatened with closure due to recent budget cuts). The money could help address inequity in those districts with the most underserved student populations.
• What You Can Do: Contact your state's Department of Education and volunteer preservation and/or architectural expertise to help establish the selection process and/or work with superintendents, school board officials, parent-teacher organizations, safe routes to school programs, etc. to identify specific projects.

Stimulus Line Item: $100 million for construction grants to "impact aid" school districts – those that service students from government installations or Indian tribes. 40% go to formula grants and 60% go to competitive grants for emergency repair and school modernization. Visit the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities for resources on renovating schools and available funding.

• Opportunity: Could provide funding for the repair and modernization of older and historic schools on military bases and on tribal lands.
• What You Can Do: Work with your state's Department of Education and tribal preservation officers to identify specific projects. Visit the U.S. Department of Education for detailed information on the school modernization program, and see an implementation briefing webinar with U.S. Secretary of Education Anne Duncan (recorded April 3, 2009).

Stimulus Line Item: $11 billion in 2009 and $11 billion in 2010 for state and local governments to reduce a school district's borrowing costs by providing tax credits to bond holders in lieu of interest for the "construction, rehabilitation, or repair of a public school facility or for the acquisition of land."

• Opportunity: Could help save 50% on repair or rehabilitation of older and historic schools in wealthier districts (because they would be the ones able to pay the loan back).
• What You Can Do: Work with your state's Department of Education, your state school board and parent-teacher associations to identify specific projects.
• Threat: Could be used to purchase land outside of a community to build a sprawl school.
• What You Can Do: Encourage your state's Department of Education to establish a plan that prioritizes preservation projects over new construction.

Stimulus Line Item: Additional $1.4 billion in 2009 and $1.4 billion in 2010 for qualified zone academy bonds (QZAB), which can be used for rehabilitating or repairing older or historic schools.

• Opportunity: Could be another source of funding for the repair of community-centered schools.
• What You Can Do: Because rehabilitation of school properties and purchase of new equipment/technology are eligible uses, preservationists should encourage their state's Department of Education to use these funds for renovation purposes.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Stimulus Line Item: $130 million for "critical community facilities" including health care, education, fire and rescue, jails, day care, community centers, museums, and libraries. Visit USDA and see the Center for Rural Affairs' rural brief.

• Opportunity: This money could be used for historic rehabilitation projects.
• What You Can Do: Identify projects that could benefit from this funding and suggest them to government officials.

Stimulus Line Item: Funding for rural business enterprise grants and business industry guaranteed loans at $20 million and $130 million, respectively.

• Opportunity: Communities have used these grants to promote business that in many cases preserve and reuse historic agricultural buildings and landscapes.
• What You Can Do: Work with business owners and developers to identify projects eligible for funding.

Have a Question?

Have a question about the stimulus and how it relates to historic preservation? Leave a comment below.

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