Hocking Athens Perry Community Action will receive $300,000 from the Ohio Department of Development to fund essential home repairs and accessibility modifications for low-income homeowners in the three Southeast Ohio counties it serves, State Rep. Kevin Ritter (R-Marietta) announced in an Ohio House release.
The money is aimed at homeowners at or below 50 percent of area median income in Hocking, Athens and Perry counties, according to the Ohio House release. It will pay for essential repairs and handicapped accessibility modifications — the kind of work, from a failing furnace to a safer bathroom, that decides whether an older or disabled resident can keep living safely in their own home.
The Southeast Ohio award is part of a much larger statewide round. The Ohio Department of Development recently announced $6.8 million in grants to improve housing and provide down-payment assistance for nearly 1,200 low- and moderate-income Ohioans, the release said.
The funding comes from the Housing Assistance Grant Program, which uses Ohio Housing Trust Fund dollars to help nonprofit organizations across the state promote affordable housing and improve housing conditions through essential home repairs, accessibility renovations, limited down-payment assistance and homebuyer education, according to the release.
For the three counties, the grant lands where the housing stock is old and household incomes are tight. Community action staff will administer the $300,000 locally, deciding which repair and accessibility projects move first for qualifying homeowners.
Homeowners in Hocking, Athens or Perry counties who believe they qualify — at or below 50 percent of area median income and in need of an essential repair or accessibility modification — should contact Hocking Athens Perry Community Action for intake details, which were not published in the announcement itself.
Essential repairs under programs like this one typically cover the failures that make a house unsafe or unlivable — roofs, furnaces, plumbing and electrical hazards — while accessibility money goes to ramps, grab bars, widened doorways and bathroom changes that let residents with disabilities stay in their homes instead of moving into costlier care settings.
The award continues a pattern of state housing money flowing through local community action agencies, which already run weatherization and emergency assistance programs in the same neighborhoods and know which homes are waiting on critical repairs.