Housing programs receive grant

MERCER, Pa. — Mercer County Commissioners awarded $194,800 from the county’s Affordable Housing Fund to two local projects Thursday.

Commissioners approved a $100,000 grant to a Lakeview Housing Rehabilitation Program, which will be used for owner-occupied housing rehabilitation for residents of Sandy Lake and Stoneboro. The money is contingent upon awarding of a $500,000 federal HOME housing rehabilitation grant to the project.

Brian Barnhizer, a senior planner with the Mercer County Regional Planning Commission, said the program will serve about 30 households and targets low-income elderly single women and younger single women with children.

The second grant would provide $94,800 to the Community Action Partnership of Mercer County for off-site improvements to the planned 23-unit Hempfield Apartments Senior Housing project on Hadley Road in Hempfield Township. Ron Errett, president of Community Action Partnership, said, when contacted after Thursday’s meeting, that construction should start soon and that the project is slated for completion in spring or early summer 2009.

In other business, commissioners hired Deborah Urban of Mercer as a clerical assistant at $12.03 hourly for the treasurer’s office and Jennifer Loreno of Hermitage as an enforcement officer for domestic relations at $21,165 annually.