Families hoping to have improved housing may have had their dreams answered with more than $600,000 in grant funds headed to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.

The announcment of the grant award was made Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The grant is aimed at improving and creating housing and economic development opportunities for low- to moderate-income families according to officials with the Department.

The competitive grants are provided through HUD’s Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG) Program to support a wide variety of community development and affordable housing activities.

HUD Southeast Regional Administrator Ed Jennings Jr. said the funds will help Indian governments improve conditions in their communities.

“These funds will help American Indian tribal governments create sustainable and community-driven solutions,” Jennings said. “Housing and infrastructure needs in Indian Country are severe and widespread. I’m inspired by the work the tribal communities are taking on to leverage these funds and get their communities on the right track.”

The ICDBG program was established in 1977 to help Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages to meet their community development needs.  Federally recognized Indian tribes, bands, groups or nations (including Alaska Indian, Aleuts and Eskimos,) or Alaska Native villages compete for this funding. The recipients use the funding to develop viable communities, including rehabilitating housing or building new housing or to buy land to support new housing construction.

The funding can also be used to build infrastructure such as roads, water and sewer facilities, and to create suitable living environments. To spur economic development, recipients have used the grants to establish a wide variety of commercial, industrial and agricultural projects. The grants have been used to build community and health centers, or to start businesses to support the community, such as shopping centers, manufacturing plants, restaurants or convenient stores/gas stations.