CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield County Commissioners on Tuesday approved grant awards for four, local Affordable Housing programs.
The grants were made available through the county’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, according to information provided by Community Development Specialist Lisa Kovalick.
Projects were eligible if they increased the availability of affordable housing through either sales or rental to any county resident whose annual income was less than the county’s median income.
Eligible projects included owner-occupied rehabilitation; emergency repair programs; elderly, special needs and disabled housing; veterans housing; new home construction; land banks; transitional housing; homeless shelters; community stabilization programs; foreclosure prevention; emergency rental assistance; and bridge loans for rental housing development.
In the information, Kovalick indicated that six applications were received and reviewed by the county’s Planning & Community Development Office based upon the program guidelines. Funding requests totaled $90,100, which was more than the amount of funding available, so not all projects could be funded or fully funded.
Upon award of the 2020 funding, Kovalick said the county will have distributed over $394,170 in Affordable Housing Trust Funds since 2012. The 2020 projects included:
- Young People Who Care, $15,000, homeowner repair/blight prevention: Funds will be used to purchase materials for the agency’s summer home repair and ongoing emergency repair programs. It was noted that these programs will provide homeowner repairs detrimental to the health and safety of the occupants, and that YPWC provides theses services as a last resort.
- Real Equity LLC, $15,000, new affordable rental units: Funds will be used by this private development company that offers safe and affordable rental units in the DuBois area. More specifically, the funds will be used to transform blighted property into three, new affordable housing units. It was noted that Real Equity has working relationships with Community Connections of Clearfield & Jefferson Counties and members of the Local Housing Option Team to provide much-needed, safe and affordable housing to chronic homeless people in Clearfield County.
- Clearfield County Housing Authority, $10,100, rental repair program: The authority will continue to provide an incentive for improvement of rental units. It was noted that this program will offer landlords a 50 percent reimbursement of costs for making code improvements up to $1,000, which in turn, assures there are quality rental units available to county families.
- Clearfield Presbyterian Church/Presbyterian Hammers, $5,000, emergency housing repair program: This group is comprised of church volunteers who provide emergency housing repairs for Clearfield County residents in need. It was noted that they serve residents with physical and or mental disabilities who have limited income and no other support system to assist with home repairs.
In other business, the commissioners:
- appointed George Hunsigner to the Clearfield County Library Board.
- approved advertising bids for repairs to the Camp Corbly and McGees Mills Bridges.
- approved two new employee hires and four employee separations/retirements.
- approved Communication Tower leases with Boggs and Bell Townships.
- approved a liquid fuel allocation to Gulich Township in the amount of $3,297.97.
- approved the county’s routine bills through April 14.
- approved the minutes from the March 10 meeting as presented by the chief clerk.
- approved the cancellation of its April 7 workshop meeting as a public safety measure.