PUBLIC HOUSING Pa. funds to double complex for elderly

Ten apartments are to be added to the Maple Street complex in Sharon.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- The Mercer County Housing Authority has secured financial help from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency to double the size of its Heritage Square apartment complex for the elderly in Mercer.
L. DeWitt Boosel, authority executive director, told his board Wednesday that the PHFA has granted the authority tax credits expected to generate $498,322 in equity for the project, which involves building 10 apartments at the site on Maple Street.
The authority will sell the tax credits to banks or other financial institutions needing tax breaks.
Boosel said the total estimated project cost is just over $1 million.
Deferred loan
In addition to the tax credit equity, PHFA has granted a $331,224 deferred loan to the project.
A deferred loan never has to be repaid, barring any default on the project, Boosel said.
The authority is putting in $207,387 of its own money, he said, adding that construction could start this fall.
Renovation delay
In other business, the authority learned that the exterior renovation of the Frank Fay Terrace apartment complex in Transfer will have to be spread over two years. Boosel said the authority has about $1.2 million in federal funds to do the job but that won't be enough, particularly because the authority must convert four of the apartments into fully accessible units for the disabled.
The cost of those conversions isn't known, but it is expected to boost the overall cost well beyond the available financing, he said.
The project will be spread over two years to take advantage of additional annual federal funding that will come available, he said.
Loan write-off
The authority also agreed to write off a $113,306 loan made to Community Homebuyers Inc. Community Homebuyers is an independent nonprofit agency set up by the authority to serve as its development arm for home ownership programs.
The loan was given to Community Homebuyers to help finance the construction of five homes on Woodland Avenue in Wheatland, but the agency has no income and no way to repay those funds, Boosel said.