Homeowners in Hocking, Athens and Perry counties who have been putting off a failing furnace, a leaking roof or a bathroom they can no longer safely use are in line for help. Hocking Athens Perry Community Action will receive $300,000 from the Ohio Department of Development for essential home repairs and accessibility modifications, State Representative 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 the three counties Hocking Athens Perry Community Action serves, according to the Ohio House release. It will fund essential repairs and handicapped accessibility modifications — the kind of work 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. With the grants, nonprofits can hire local qualified construction companies to complete repairs such as heating systems, water heaters, plumbing systems, severely deteriorated roofs, walls, windows, doors and hazardous electrical systems.
“This funding provides an opportunity to help more families when they need an essential repair or an accessibility update completed in their home,” Ritter said in the Ohio House release. “It’s great to see resources allocated specifically for Southeast Ohio so work can be done in the community to ensure safe housing and a better quality of life for residents.”
The funding comes from the Housing Assistance Grant Program, which uses Ohio Housing Trust Fund dollars to help nonprofit organizations 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 a three-county service area where much of the housing stock is older and incomes run below the state median, $300,000 directed at the most urgent repairs — heat, water, roofs and safe entry — is targeted money: every project it funds is one a household at or below half the area median income almost certainly could not have paid for on its own.
What happens next: Hocking Athens Perry Community Action will administer the $300,000 locally in Hocking, Athens and Perry counties. Homeowners 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 the agency for intake details, which had not been published in the announcement itself.
Photo: Ed!, CC BY-SA