Advocates of community revitalization and preservation of underutlized or abandoned real estate have good reason to lobby Congress to pass President Barack Obama’s proposed “American Jobs Act.”  It was little reported at the time the measure was announced, but it includes a $15 billion program to help stabilize and revitalize neighborhoods.

The funding would build on existing federal programs to stabilize neighborhoods hurt by foreclosures, but it would go much further.  It would allow for the rehabilitation of vacant commercial properties as well. 

A full $5 billion would be competitively awarded – and for the first time, it would allow for-profit organizations to apply directly for funds.

Here are more details on the program from a September speech by HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan:

A New Project Rebuild

But even in this budget environment, as tough as it is, we’re not playing defense when it comes to smart investments we need to win the future.

Indeed, in the President’s speech before Congress earlier this month, he proposed what I believe is one of our biggest opportunities to build more sustainable communities when he introduced Project Rebuild that would create 200,000 jobs as part of the American Jobs Act.

Through three rounds of neighborhood stabilization funding, we’ve helped communities turn vacant and abandoned properties into the affordable rental housing families need – and a crisis into an opportunity for change.

By helping them forge partnerships with financial institutions and non-profits, these efforts are on track to support nearly 90,000 jobs and address more than 95,000 vacant and abandoned properties, including nearly 50,000 affordable homes.

Let me take a moment to explain how Project Rebuild would innovate on the success of these efforts.

First and foremost, of the $15 billion President Obama has proposed for Project Rebuild, $5 billion would be competitively awarded – and for the first time, it would allow for-profit organizations to apply directly for funds.

While non-profits could apply directly during the second round of the neighborhood stabilization program, as many of you know, for-profits could only apply if they had a public partner.

Project Rebuild would ensure the private sector institutions who have participated in neighborhood stabilization are full partners in this transformation.

Secondly, it would allow for the rehabilitation of vacant commercial properties.

Across the country, we’ve seen how it’s not just abandoned homes that can drag down an entire neighborhood – but vacant commercial properties as well.

That’s why Project Rebuild would allow commercial redevelopment essential to neighborhood revitalization to be funded directly – allowing for more mixed-use development in hard-hit neighborhoods.

And so, Project Rebuild’s inclusion in the American Jobs Act not only reflects President Obama’s belief that rebuilding neighborhoods is essential to rebuilding our economy – it also represents an important opportunity to accelerate the work we’re doing together to build more sustainable communities.

I mentioned earlier in my remarks that it’s no coincidence that the neighborhoods that faced the brunt of the economic crisis and had the highest foreclosure rates and the deepest job losses, were the most unsustainable – with the least access to transportation, the most troubled schools and the least economic opportunity.

From Columbus, Ohio to Phoenix, Arizona, we’ve seen communities use existing neighborhood stabilization funds to green homes, invest in energy-efficient technologies and adopt sustainable building practices that save families money and strengthen the resiliency of neighborhoods.

Well with Project Rebuild, these communities will not only have additional funding but new tools to bring these innovations to vacant commercial properties encouraging more mixed-use development in our hardest-hit communities.

For sprawling cities like Atlanta, neighborhood stabilization efforts have provided a real opportunity to fundamentally re-think land use and better link housing investments with jobs, schools, and transportation.

In places like these, communities will be able to combine Project Rebuild and HUD’s sustainability planning grant resources to spur transit-oriented development, more closely connect housing to job centers and speed job creation.

We need your help to bring these efforts together on the ground – to combine efforts in ways that leverage private dollars and create the biggest impact for jobs and families.