The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) plans to step-up the hiring of low-income residents and public housing tenants at a time when the African-American unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 15 percent, a 23-year high.   

"HUD dollars should be invested in people as well as buildings," John Trasviña, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, said in a statement.

HUD is contacting more than 3,000 state and local agencies, including public housing authorities, to document their efforts to hire low-income residents and to contract with companies who hire them, HUD officials said.

“I’m encouraged by what HUD is doing, but it needs to be intensified,” Rev. Timothy McDonald, chair of the African-American Ministers In Action and pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church in Atlanta, told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

“I would like to have seen this program started six months ago,” he said, “but I like what they’re doing.”

McDonald said many black unemployed residents of Atlanta have faith that Obama can deliver on his promise of turning the economy around.

“Our people are hopeful,” McDonald said, “but in the meantime, the recession is devastating for people living in public housing who are struggling just to get to work and pay utilities. It’s devastating for poor communities.”

The HUD announcement coincides with news that a total of 263,000 jobs vanished from the economy last month — much worse than economists' expectation of 180,000 job losses.

After declining for three straight months, the unemployment rate for African-Americans rose from 14.5 percent in July to 15.1 percent in August, according to the latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

The August unemployment rate for African-Americans is the highest since November of 1985 when it was 15.6 percent. Unemployment for whites in August was 8.9 percent and for Hispanics it was 13.0 percent. 

And as usual, black men took the hardest hit.

The latest Labor Department report indicated that African-American male unemployment rose from 15.8 percent in July to 17.0 percent in August and rose from 11.7 percent in July to 11.9 percent in August for African-American females.

“I have people [in the congregation] who don’t want to keep looking for jobs,” McDonald said. “They’ve filled out dozens of job applications and received dozens of rejection letters. They’re tired.”

HUD’s announcement also comes as the White House is now without Van Jones, who served as the administration’s high-profile black voice for the creation of green jobs for African-Americans.

Last month, Jones resigned after a controversy over his past statements turned into calls for his ouster from Republican leaders.

Jones told BlackAmericaWeb.com before he resigned that more African-Americans are now embracing the notion that being environmentally friendly can also translate into jobs.    

The Obama administration still plans to spend $150 billion to create 5 million green jobs to develop more environmentally sound energy sources. White House economists predicted a 52 percent growth for environment-based jobs by 2016.

But today, the statistics just keep getting worse.

According to the Center for American Progress, the poverty rate stood at 13.2 percent in 2008, its highest rate since 1997.

The African-American poverty rate was 24.6 percent, the Hispanic rate was 23.2 percent, and the white rate was 8.6 percent in 2008, according to the center. More than one-third of African-American children - 34.7 percent - lived in poverty in 2008, compared to 10.6 percent of white children and 30.6 percent of Hispanic children.

Meanwhile, HUD officials insisted they will provide employment and training opportunities for low income residents and the many African-Americans living in public housing.

"We will work with state and local governments, public housing authorities, labor organizations, businesses, and community leaders to create job opportunities and vigorously enforce the law," Trasvina said.

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