CHRIC state housing grants total $1.124M to Gerry, Ellington and Chautauqua
Special to the OBSERVERWith the need to improve housing quality in Chautauqua County a sometimes ambiguous subject of discussion, Chautauqua Home Rehabilitation and Improvement Corporation, has just delivered some concrete solutions in the form of state rehabilitation funding for homes owned by low and moderate-income households.
The Towns of Chautauqua, Gerry and Ellington each submitted applications to the New York State Office of Community Renewal, (OCR), and all three were funded.
A total of 37 owner-occupied housing units will be assisted within the awarded townships.
"This is an incredible number of housing rehab grants to come into Chautauqua County,"said CHRIC Executive Director John Murphy. "My staff will assist several eligible communities in submitting grant applications, with the hope of receiving one or more awards to help income-eligible homeowners in those communities make needed repairs to their homes. This year every application we submitted was funded, and if you include the Sinclairville Senior Center, funded with additional stimulus money held by the OCR, then we had a sweep of all four applications submitted."
Community Development Block Grants go to the cities of Jamestown and Dunkirk as entitlements, meaning they receive the funding automatically. The federal government block-grants other CDBG funding to states that towns, villages, and counties can apply competitively for eligible-uses.
"Our 'bread and butter' business line is housing rehabilitation," Murphy said, "and these substantial new grants will help keep our rehab staff, and contractors who carry out CHRIC contracts, busy for the next two years. The investment is not only in the houses to be improved, but will be in the vendors and contractors whose businesses will provide materials and labor as well. This is huge!"
"Many of the homes to be assisted were identified in the preparation of the CDBG grants," said Eileen Powers, CHRIC Director of Housing Rehab Services. "The towns will have 24-months to complete these projects from the time they receive their contracts. We hope to be under way with these grants by Spring 2010," Powers stated.
