The commissioner’s development department received requests totaling $5.26 million for 33 projects earlier this year for the annual allotments. There were 27 requests totaling $3.5 million for CDBG money and six applications totaling $1.7 million for $856,804 in HOME funding.
The commissioners approved a dozen CDBG projects mainly for infrastructure work, the largest award was $233,075 for catch basin replacement in the tiny village of Seven Mile.
“The catch basins, the four that we asked for, are collapsing,” Mayor Vivian Gorsuch told the Journal-News. “So that will help tremendously in getting those repaired. They are in busy areas and concerns all the time so that’s awesome.”
All of the CDBG requesters got the amounts they asked for, but the applications came in well before the recent surge of inflation. Hanover Twp. got the second highest award of $124,000 for Community Center repaving and Administrator Bruce Henry is hoping the dollars will cover the cost.
“We just never had the money to do this parking lot the way it should be done, there’s no subbase to it, it needs drainage around the building because when we have these terrible storms we get some water in the building,” Henry said. “So it was a badly needed project and we just hope we don’t get eaten alive with inflation on the costs.”
The county collects the funds for Fairfield and Oxford so they automatically got $131,300 each. The county’s community development department is not supported by the county general fund, they subsist on percentages of the grants they administer. There was a total of $498,215 allocated for administrative costs for all the programs.
The commissioners awarded various other communities dollars for things like community center improvements, storm pipe repair, sidewalks, home repair programs and more.
On the HOME front the Neighborhood Housing Service received $204,406 more than they requested, plus an additional $217,546 from unspent COVID-19 special funding for a total of $716,952 for down payment assistance and restoring vacant and foreclosed homes for low income families and transitional housing.
Lorie DiStaola, executive director of the NHS told the Journal-News the new money will allow them to give down payment assistance — the maximum allowed is $5,000 but not everyone gets that — to 40 to 45 new homeowners.
She said there are many people in the county who pay their bills and are making ends meet but just don’t have any money left to save up for down payment on a house. She said “I feel like it’s the wild, wild west” out there with rents increasing as much as $500.
“It’s mind boggling actually and even though rates have gone up, people don’t know where to go, they don’t know what to do,” DiStaola said. “They are looking at home ownership, if I’ve got rent can I clear home ownership with these dollars, I don’t have the down payment, typically lenders want 3% that’s the barrier for me. People who are going through rental situations to home ownership are reducing their payments.”
They also buy and renovate homes for resale to working class families and will be able to provide more of those housing options. NHS also has 27 transitional housing units for homeless people, with the new cash infusion they will be able to buy two more properties to create four new units.
Commissioner Cindy Carpenter balked at awarding the HOME dollars before the assessment on housing needs countywide is complete.
“I think failing to put the community development dollars where they’re most needed is a big part of how we got in this mess,” Carpenter said. “It’s our part on the commissioners and I don’t know that we’ve been getting the information we need from the communities to make the most impactful decisions.”
The county has another $3.1 million in American Rescue Plan Act HOME funding to dispense. Development Director David Fehr said they have hired a consultant to do a needs assessment — a HUD requirement — and that is due in August.
County Administrator Judi Boyko told Carpenter the deadline for HUD is imminent for the regular HOME funding so they couldn’t delay the decision.
Carpenter told the Journal-News she doesn’t have a quarrel with giving the money to NHS per se, she just wants to make sure they are truly spreading their resources countywide not just in pockets.
Commissioner Don Dixon said the HOME funding is probably just a drop in the bucket of what needs to be done in housing department.
“I think there’s going to be a lot more money spent on housing than what we’re talking about here,” Dixon said. “This is not the major part of what it’s going to take.”
The commissioners also awarded Habitat for Humanity $100,000 and the county collects Middletown’s HUD funding for the HOME program so that city got $313,000 for down payment assistance.
Boyko has charged Fehr’s department with revamping the way they make recommendations to the commissioners for these programs. They have always utilized a committee — which is comprised of representatives from the Development Department, Job and Family Services, the county engineer and Water & Sewer — to make recommendations. The commissioners have not always followed the recommendations.
Boyko told the Journal-News she needs to get some policy decisions from the commissioners before they can really proceed with developing a new strategy.
“How does the board want to utilize the available funding from HUD for community development projects. That policy is imperative because then whoever you select on an evaluation committee will have guardrails, will have their direction on which projects align with the commissioners’ position...,” Boyko said.
“So for instance is infrastructure more important, is parks and recreation more important, is funding public safety projects a priority. The staff needs direction from the commissioners.”
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