The city of Cedartown has received $476,028 for city public housing projects as part of the $85,224,742 state grant from the Department of U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded last week.

The funds will allow the city to make major capital improvements to their public housing units and is part of $2.3 billion HUD grant awarded last week to 3,131 agencies across the U.S, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Alice Cook, executive director for the Cedartown Housing Authority, said improvements are already underway using this grant as well as others.

New central heating and air is currently being installed at the Gray Field Apartments high rise at 344 West Avenue. Local contractor Haynes Heating and Air was awarded the bid for the work, a move Cook says will help keep money in Polk County.

Crews have also recently finished roofing housing sites, including Canal Court, Rock Street, East View and most of the authority’s other scattered sites. Several more local projects are also in the works.

The funding is allocated through HUD’s Capital Fund Program and provides annual funding to public housing authorities to develop, finance, and/or modernize the public housing in their communities. This funding can be used to make large-scale improvements such as new roofs and to make energy-efficient upgrades to replace old plumbing and electrical systems.

HUD Assistant Secretary Sandra Henriquez said, “This funding is a great resource for housing authorities, but we believe this new approach will give housing authorities a better way to address their capital needs over the long haul.”