Valley receives more than $2M to help homes

By SHELBY SCHROEDER

East Liverpool was the only Valley grantee to receive a $544,000 award.

The state has awarded more than $2 million in grants in Trumbull and Columbiana counties to reinvigorate the housing market.

The annual Community Housing Improvement Program, or CHIP, awards were announced this week by the Ohio Department of Development. This year four grantees in the Mahoning Valley will receive between $500,000 and $544,000 in project funding: Salem, East Liverpool, Niles and Trumbull County.

Every two years, communities can apply for the grant to fund special housing projects for residents and homeowners of low to moderate incomes. As part of the application process, recipients map out methods of spending their grant money. Although the four local communities will spend their funds differently, most will have similar financing goals.

In most cases, project plans include emergency funding to prevent foreclosures that will help homeowners with short-term mortgage assistance — intended to keep families from losing their homes.

Other community projects may include rehabilitation for homes and rental properties, down payment assistance for first-time buyers, and funding for smaller home repairs. Those repairs would include fixes for leaky roofs, broken furnaces and outdated electrical wiring, as well as other repairs costing between $5,000 to $8,000. Those cost limitations depend on the grantee’s plans.

Salem has unique goals for its grant money. It set aside $30,000 for four households that need monthly rental assistance, which works alongside Salem’s Section 8 program to get low-income families into affordable housing.

Salem is also offering 20 hopeful homebuyers a housing education program in the form of a 40-hour course.

Marshall Bleckman, of the consulting firm Bleckmen and Associates Inc., who organized Salem’s grant application, said certified housing counselors will teach first-time buyers how to find and finance homes that suit them.

All projects in the Valley will begin as early as November, and must be completed by Oct. 31, 2010.

Greg Bugnone, a planner for Trumbull County, said a portion of its grant money will go toward home repairs in the Bolindale area of Howland Township this fiscal year, and the Dover Street area of Warren in 2010.

“We’ll slowly but surely be increasing the value of homes,” Bugnone said.

This year, the state estimates more than 2,700 households will be aided by the grants. As many as 29 Habitat for Humanity homes will also be constructed throughout Ohio with the grant money.

Mahoning County is a 2007 grant recipient, and therefore ineligible for a CHIP award this year, said Anna DeAscentis, the grants business manager for the county. Last year’s grant of $556,000 is being used this fiscal year for projects that include the rehabilitation of homes in Beaver Township.

DeAscentis said the county will be reapplying for the CHIP in 2009.

This year’s Valley recipients are among 62 communities awarded more than $30 million in CHIP grants this year. East Liverpool was the only grantee in the Valley to receive a $544,000 award.

Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, who is also the director of ODOD, said the grants will help ensure residents have safe and secure homes.

“These funds play a key role in improving the quality of life for Ohioans,” he said.

sschroeder@vindy.com