LAWRENCE COUNTY Housing authority delays federal program application

The authority passed its 2003 operating budget.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The Lawrence County Housing Authority has decided to delay its application for a federal program that would integrate public housing residents into neighborhoods.
The housing authority had been considering submitting an application for Hope IV but has now decided to delay the application for one year, said Robert Evanick, housing authority director.
"There was just too much information [to prepare]. It's too much to deal with right now. Next year the authority will be more prepared," he said.
The board was advised last month by a consultant it hired to help with the program that the application for funding had to be finished by early November and some key decisions needed to be made.
Some members of the authority said they were reconsidering Neshannock Village and wanted to instead institute the Hope IV program for the Grant Street housing authority units.
The program would involve razing barracks-style public housing units and replacing them with a mix of public and private housing.
The first of four meetings with residents of Neshannock Village, the housing complex being considered for the program, was held last month.
Evanick said the authority is still planning to take 17 Neshannock Village residents to Pittsburgh to show them a neighborhood where the Hope IV program was instituted, something planned before the housing authority decided to delay its application for the program.
Budget is passed
In other business, the authority passed its 2003 budget. The $3,715,831 spending plan is a slight decrease from last year, Evanick said. In 2002 the operating budget was $3,717,831. Evanick said the decrease came about because the housing authority ended up not spending some money in its 2002 budget and that amount was not included in this year's budget.
The money for the budget comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the form of rent subsidies paid by residents. The money is used for salaries, utilities and all other expenses of the authority, Evanick said.