CLEARFIELD – At this week’s meeting, the Clearfield County Commissioners approved awarding Affordable Housing Trust Funds.
The county was awarded $65,000, according to County Planner Jodi Brennan. Brennan presented the projects that were selected to receive funding.
- Colver Development Corp./Northern Cambria Community Development Corp. are constructing 30, new elderly housing units. Further, Brennan said that the Leonard Street Gardens is a proposed elderly affordable housing development that will provide 30 safe, affordable and attractive housing units. This project, Brennan said, addresses a priority need identified in the county’s Housing Study and leverages more than 7 million dollars in additional funds. Colver Development Corp/NCCDC will be awarded $15,000 per year for five years.
- Central Pennsylvania Community Action’s CHORE Program, Brennan said, also addresses a priority need identified in the county’s Housing Study. She said it’s geared toward assisting approximately 48 elderly, disabled and low-income individuals with basic health and safety home repairs. Such improvements, she said, may include accessibility upgrades, such as installation of wheel chair ramps or bathroom grab bars, replacing unsafe electrical fuses/wiring or efficiency repairs, such as repairing a furnace, or leaky windows. The CPCA’s $15,000 award, Brennan said, will match a private donation from a local bank.
- Habitat for Humanity plans to construct an affordable home for a family of four. Funds, Brennan said, will be used to assist with finalizing construction of a home they have started on South Forth Street in Clearfield.
This site, she said, was home to a blighted structure that was acquired and demolished using NSP funds secured by the county. She said it will now be converted to a family home that will go back on the local tax rolls. The Habitat’s $10,000 in funds, she said, will leverage an additional $65,000 in funds.
- Cen-Clear Child Services has a Specialized Housing Counseling initiative. The program, Brennan said, is in its third year and designed to assist another 60 low-income families and individuals who are homeless or seeking housing assistance due to inadequate or substandard housing by helping them identify their housing needs, providing appropriate housing counseling and training and linking them to the housing services they need. Cen-Clear received an award of $7,500.
- Haven House is an emergency rental and utility assistance program. The homeless shelter, located in DuBois, is seeking assistance in helping eligible guests at their shelter secure independent permanent housing, said Brennan. She explained that many times it’s simply the lack of having the funds for the security or utility deposit that keeps an individual or family from obtaining permanent shelter.
Haven House, she said, anticipates using these funds to help at least eight homeless individuals or families with such deposits. In addition, Haven House will monitor success by staying in touch with these folks over a period of six months to check on their housing status. The goal of this program, she said, is to reduce the number of homeless individuals and families in the county. The Haven House received an award of $4,800.
- Clearfield County Housing Authority, Brennan said, is seeking assistance with ADA accessibility upgrades at the Henry Meyers Towers located in Clearfield.
The Henry Meyers Towers is a 99-apartment unit complex for low-income elderly and disabled persons. With these funds, she said the authority will be able to provide the availability of a handicapped accessible vehicle drop-off area and an outdoor seating area for their residents. The CCHA received an award of $4,770. - St. Michael Terrace is an elderly and disabled 102-unit subsidized apartment complex located in downtown DuBois. Brennan said this facility, operated by a non-profit, does not have the adequate funds in its capital reserve to cover the entire cost of replacing the backup generator, which has deteriorated to the point that it is no longer reliable to provide for the safety and well-being of its residents if electricity were lost. St. Michael Terrace received an award of $3,900.
- Young People Who Care, a non-profit youth ministry, is requesting funds to make necessary repairs to the first-floor handicap bathroom and to purchase a refrigerator for its women’s shelter, said Brennan. The shelter provides for homeless women and children. As of Dec. 19, she said the shelter was home to 47 women and children from Clearfield County. YPWC received an award of $3,500.