The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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July 30, 2009

Kansas: Project billed as first one done under housing program

The Associated Press

OSAWATOMIE, Kan. — State and federal officials used a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday for an eastern Kansas apartment complex for senior citizens to promote federal economic stimulus efforts that are encountering growing skepticism from Americans.

Woodland Hills Estates is the first project in the nation to be completed under a $3 billion affordable housing program authorized as part of the stimulus package, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin and Gov. Mark Parkinson cited Woodland Hills as an example of how the stimulus legislation championed by President Barack Obama is helping states and communities such as Osawatomie, a town of 4,500 residents about 60 miles southwest of the Kansas City metro area.

Parkinson noted that Kansas also used stimulus funds to help balance its budget, launch large highway projects and plan for more energy-efficient homes.

For Osawatomie, the stimulus allowed the developer of Woodland Hills to finish construction and start renting apartments this month, after much of its financing had disappeared in the spring with the work three-quarters done. The project received about $2.4 million.

“For people who are doubters about the Recovery Act and what it’s doing, they need to come to a place like Osawatomie and to Woodland Hills Estates to see the very tangible evidence of what it is we’re accomplishing,” Wolin told reporters after brief remarks to about 120 people.

The state expects to receive nearly $2 billion in stimulus funds. While Parkinson, a Democrat like Obama, supports the funds, most of the state’s GOP-dominated congressional delegation is critical, questioning whether the stimulus is doing enough to revive the economy as it balloons the federal budget deficit.

Rep. Lynn Jenkins, a Republican whose eastern Kansas district includes Osawatomie, issued a statement Thursday calling the pace of spending and the debt under Obama “simply astounding.” Rep. Todd Tiahrt, a Republican who represents south-central Kansas, has called for repeal of the stimulus law.

An Associated Press-GfK Poll last week showed public confidence in the stimulus package has eroded, with 58 percent saying they doubted it would bring significant economic improvement. Obama’s approval rating also has slipped.

“I think they’re having to sell it — and that’s not a good thing,” Republican Sen. Sam Brownback said in a phone interview. “You stimulated the government and not the economy.”

But for 88-year-old Ruth Brown, the stimulus means she was able to find an affordable two-bedroom apartment near her grandchildren after her husband, Orville, died in December. She was first to rent one of the 24 apartments at Woodland Hills, paying $530 a month for 963 square feet of living space with a private patio.

The state is receiving about $45 million under the stimulus program used to help Woodland Hills’ developer. The program allows states to give grants to developers of affordable housing, rather than promising tax credits later.

Woodland Hills will replace housing lost when a flood destroyed 10 percent of Osawatomie’s residences in July 2007.

Brown, who acknowledged she’s been impressed with Obama since he began his presidential campaign, said she didn’t know what the federal stimulus meant for Osawatomie until recently.

“It seems to be working pretty good here, don’t it?” she said.

Parkinson said he’s amazed by suggestions that the stimlus act should be repealed or that it’s not helping revive the economy.

“These folks, they’re inside the Beltway too much,” the governor said. “They need to come out here into the real world.”

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