LAWRENCE COUNTY Grant to help build housing for homeless

Dale Country Estates will have 30 units and will be outside New Castle.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Affordable Housing of Lawrence County, a nonprofit arm of the Lawrence County Housing Authority, got a $168,000 grant to help build housing for homeless people 50 and older.
Robert Evanick, housing authority executive director and a member of the Affordable Housing board of directors, said the grant will be used to buy land and pay architects.
The money came from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, a group that funds housing and economic development programs to promote affordable housing and economic development for low- and moderate-income families and communities.
Evanick said the grant is part of a $2.9 million project called Dale Country Estates being developed by Affordable Housing.
The project will develop 30 low-income units, 24 of which will be designated for very low-income families, and at least six allocated for homeless people.
Likely candidates
The homeless will most likely be elderly parents who are "doubling up" with their adult children or who are living in an institutional setting because they have no permanent residence.
The one-floor units will circle a covered atrium, Evanick said. Social service agencies will provide on-site services in the atrium, says a news release about the program. A tenant council will be organized and will meet regularly.
Evanick said it should take two to three years to get the project off the ground.
He said the Affordable Housing board is now negotiating with property owners outside the city of New Castle to build Dale Country Estates.
Other grants and loans will be sought to finance the entire project, and the county housing authority will not be involved, he said.