MERCER COUNTY Housing authority explores HOPE VI trust fund

The money would help to promote self-sufficiency of residents.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- The Mercer County Housing Authority is looking at creating a trust fund to provide ongoing community and support services at its HOPE VI housing complex in Farrell.
The authority board got a proposal Wednesday to set up a $75,000 trust fund through the Shenango Valley Foundation, which would handle the fund administration.
The board tabled action on the plan until its meeting July 9 to give its staff and the foundation time to draft rules on how and by whose authority the money can be spent.
Larry Haynes, executive director of the foundation, suggested that a committee be set up to review and approve spending.
Authority board member Tim Jablon said the trust should be structured so a review committee would be only advisory in nature, with all spending decisions made by the authority board.
Haynes said the $75,000 trust would generate about $4,000 a year in interest earnings and that spending should be limited to that amount to ensure that the trust will go on.
Source of money
L. DeWitt Boosel, authority executive director, said the $75,000 is part of $9 million from a federal HOPE VI grant awarded to help finance the $30 million rebuilding of the former 100-unit Steel City Terrace apartment complex.
The old barracks-style apartment buildings are gone and are being replaced by smaller buildings housing two, three or four apartments, as well as some single-family houses, all spread over a much wider area to integrate them into the surrounding community.
The new project area is now known as Centennial Place.
The trust could be used to provide job training and other programs to help make authority tenants more self-sufficient.
The training will be done on-site at 102 Wallis Ave., a former maintenance building converted into classroom space where computer training and life-skills classes are about to begin.
The first phase of HOPE VI, featuring 53 new housing units, is well under way. The authority will hold an open house at the site at 10 a.m. Aug. 14, Boosel said.
Condemned lots
In a related matter, the authority board voted to use its right of eminent domain to condemn 22 lots at 15 addresses on Spearman, Wallis and Fruit avenues in Farrell. This will provide additional land to build 34 more apartments in a second phase.
All of the properties are vacant and up for county tax sale. The fastest way to get a clear deed to the properties is to officially condemn them, Boosel said.