HUD, Norton Announce New Business Registry to Help Businesses Hire Low-Income D.C. Residents and offer Small Business Contracts for HUD-Funded Projects

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) joined the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) earlier today to announce that the District of Columbia is part of a pilot program that will expand job opportunities for low-income people and public housing residents by creating a registry of eligible Section 3 businesses and job opportunities. HUD's Section 3 Business Registry (www.hud.gov/Sec3biz) offers a searchable online database that housing authorities, local government agencies, and contractors can use to identify firms that have self-certified their status as Section 3 businesses and that hire low-income individuals. In 2010, HUD funding created 331 jobs in the area, 83 percent of which went to low-income residents.

"Fully 40 percent of HUD funds make their way to distressed communities," Norton said. "HUD understands that there is no reason why residents and small businesses should be mere onlookers to construction in their communities. I believe that the District's record of many years of successful construction of HUD-financed housing, particularly the city's record with eight successful Hope VI projects, is what has earned D.C. an early place in this program. I applaud HUD for finding a way to put District residents to work on our local projects and to help local business at a time when many residents are out of work, or without knowledge of how to get small business contracts or secure HUD Contracts."

Published January 18, 2012