At least one of three low-income public housing buildings for seniors in Vancouver will be refurbished with a small portion of the giant federal stimulus bill.

The "Vancouver Housing Authority will receive almost $1.17 million' from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It's part of $3 billion distributed nationally to quickly boost Construction jobs while "modernizing tens of thousands of public housing centers across the country.

The VHA was one of 29 local housing authorities awarded more than $40 million statewide through the Public Housing Capital Fund.

VHA officials said the agency has already identified several projects in its five-year capital plan. The agency's board of directors on March 25 will determine where the money should be spent, then make that specific proposal to HUD.

VHA spokesman Steven Towell said officials expect the projects could put people to work within 120 days.

The money is nowhere enough to build facilities, which would require much more extensive planning.

"That just wouldn't get us very far," Towell said. "In this case, HUD has specified that we do things that we can start quickly."

The VHA owns 575 units of low-rent public housing, most within three large senior housing facilities: Columbia House in the Hough neighborhood, Van Vista in downtown Vancouver and Skyline Crest in Vancouver Heights. The VHA board of directors will decide to allocate the funds to at least one of those facilities, Towell said.

Besides the buildings owned by 'the VHA itself, the housing authority serves more than 7,500 low-income residents in more than 3,100 households that receive rental subsidies. The Vancouver-based agency operates throughout Clark County, through agreements with local governments.

Demand for housing is high enough that the agency actually closed the waiting list in the fall of 2006, Towell said. The back log is so severe that the agency is currently filling vacancies with people who applied in the fall of 2003.

Besides the big capital grant, the VHA also received a pair of grants totaling $125,000 to expand its Work Opportunities program, which provides training to wean residents off public housing.