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CARY, N.C. – Dozens of affordable housing projects stalled when the economy slipped into recession. But federal stimulus money may help some of those projects get back on track.

“The capital markets kind of fell apart when Fannie and Freddie weren’t doing very well,” affordable housing developer Natalie Britt said. “They used to buy tax credits, which was the main way we financed our rental properties. So we kind of had to regroup because there was a vacuum in the sources of funding for these types of projects.”

But federal stimulus money means that construction equipment may no longer have to sit idle. The Treasury Department recently announced that North Carolina will get $95 million in funding.

That money will jump start 36 affordable housing communities that were stalled in the Triangle, the Triad, along the coast and in the Charlotte region.

Officials say it will fill a growing need for that type of rental properties.

“It’s more difficult to qualify for a home purchase loan, and some people are losing their homes for various reasons. So affordable apartments are in increasing demand,” Bob Kucab, of the N.C. Housing Finance Agency, said.

Developers also believe the projects will create more than 2,000 construction jobs across the state.

“In addition, these are property tax producing developments, so the local government gains,” Kucab said. “They’re well built, they’re well maintained and they’re well designed. So they add to neighborhood value. So there’s at least a triple bottom line, if not more than that.”

The federal money will finance more than 2,000 apartments. Close to 70 percent of those units will be for families, and the rest are for seniors.