CNS - Visiting an affordable housing project in Los Angeles, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Feb. 20 the distribution of $73 million for 40 similar developments across the state, and said the federal government was providing millions more to provide job-training for laid-off mortgage and banking workers.

The $5.6 million National Emergency Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor is aimed at helping mortgage and banking industry workers who were laid off as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis transition to other jobs.

“We applied for this grant because we want to help displaced workers transition to new jobs, and the money will go to the counties with the greatest need,” Schwarzenegger said. “We are not just sitting by and waiting for the economy to pick back up. We are taking all the action we can to keep people working and rebuilding California.”

Los Angeles and Orange counties are among those across the state receiving some of the federal money, along with Riverside and San Diego counties. Each of the affected counties has been equipped with a One-Stop Center providing displaced workers with employment services, according to the governor’s office.

Schwarzenegger said more than 8,400 workers in the mortgage and banking industries have been laid off since July 2007.

“Many of these laid-off workers have skills that are transferable to jobs in high-growth, high-demand industries such as health care and biotech,” Schwarzen-egger said. “We want to do whatever is possible to help them make this transition.”

The governor toured the New Carver Apartments Project near downtown Los Angeles to announce the state and federal grants. The project is being built by the Skid Row Housing Trust, which received nearly $8 million in grants to develop 97 housing units, most of which will be dedicated to people who are homeless, recovering from addiction or living with HIV/AIDS.

Schwarzenegger said the $73 million in Proposition 46 funds—approved by voters in 2002—awarded Feb. 20 will provide affordable housing for 1,611 families across the state.

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