Joe Phillips

About $1.7 million in stimulus money will build 10 energy-efficient apartments for low-income housing in North Georgia, officials say.

The Northwest Georgia Housing Authority will receive the money to create public housing that conserves energy and encourages more healthy lifestyles, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"Providing funding for the greening (of public housing) will help to reduce the footprint on the environment, and it's a good use of taxpayer money," said Joe Phillips, HUD's regional public affairs officer in Atlanta.

The money will be used to build 10 apartment units on Division Street in Rome, Ga., a block from the housing authority's 200-unit Willingham Village Apartments.

The funding is greatly needed, said Sandra Hudson, the Northwest Georgia Housing Authority's executive director.

"We're taking in 150 (housing) applications a month," she said. "With this economy, there is a need for more affordable housing."

Within the past month, HUD granted $300 million in stimulus money to 36 housing authorities nationwide, including the Chattanooga Housing Authority. It is intended to make public housing sites more energy efficient, officials said.

"HUD is in the forefront with the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation, working together to provide environmentally sound policy toward affordable housing," Mr. Phillips said.

Construction on the Northwest Georgia development is scheduled to begin within three months and be completed within a year, officials said.

"Everybody is delighted," said Steve Chumley, the Northwest Georgia Housing Authority's director of technical services.

The final details haven't been set, but the goal is to build the most energy-efficient building possible, he said.

"They'll be built to get the most sun, may even have some solar (power)," he said.

The Chattanooga Housing Authority received $4.8 million in HUD funding to rebuild its 30-year-old Fairmount Avenue Apartments site with solar roofs.

The Memphis Housing Authority received $8.8 million to build energy-efficient housing in the Legends Park housing development off Poplar Avenue, and the Macon Housing Authority in Georgia got $8.6 million to renovate Felton Homes, one of the city's oldest public housing sites.

Nationwide, all 36 housing agencies will use the money to build new public housing or do substantial renovations. Housing agencies will develop green spaces and install water-conserving and energy-efficient appliances, according to HUD officials.