Biden announces $4bn US green housing drive

Green construction and technology firms will be celebrating this week after the Obama administration unveiled a $4bn (£2.5bn) partnership between its housing and labour departments designed to make low-income public housing more energy efficient.

In a move that could deliver a huge boost to firms that provide green retrofit services and energy-efficient materials and appliances, the two departments will work together to revitalise the public housing sector.

Speaking at a meeting of the Middle Class Task Force in Denver, vice president Joe Biden made a joint announcement with the two departments to carve out $4bn in funding for the project, which will see low-income housing across the country renovated with environmentally friendly features, including new energy-efficient lightbulbs, insulation, and windows.

Under the initiative, the Department of Labor is also providing $500m in funding to train "green collar" workers, particularly in low-income communities, said secretary of labor Hilda Solis.

Meanwhile, $50m of the money – all of which is coming from the $787bn provided by the Recovery Act – will be funnelled into communities directly affected by the collapse of the auto industry.

"We're announcing a partnership with secretary Solis to make sure that our housing authorities in particular have $4bn to invest in more than a million units in public housing around this country," said Shaun Donovan, secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. "We're going to get out information to every housing authority. They're going to be slipping notes under people's doors, and in lobbies and holding committee meetings."

Biden added that the investment would help deliver a long-term economic boost for the US, while also cutting household energy bills. "We're leaving men and women with jobs that cannot be exported, that will form the foundation for a 21st century economy," he said.

The Middle Class Task Force, for which Biden is the chair, was created to try to increase living standards for middle-class families.

Grant applications for the new Department of Labor funding will open next month, said Solis.