Last winter, Pennsylvania Avenue resident Sylvia Hunter was cold.
Her home, being an older residence, wasn’t all that insulated. The doors and doorways left plenty of chilly air into the home. It was only partially sided. The roof was in bad shape, as was the furnace.
But then around Christmas time of 2002, Hunter received a call from Tyrone Borough stating she was chosen for the HOME program, a cooperative effort of the borough and the County of Blair Redevelopment and Housing Authority to rehabilitate homes of families with low to moderate income.
“It was probably one of the best Christmas presents I’ve ever received in my life,” she said.
The HOME program is not new to Tyrone Borough. In fact, many years ago, the borough worked feverishly to update housing in the community, but with the passing of the American’s Disability Act, the borough had to re-direct funding to meet regulations in specific areas of the borough.
Now that most of the ADA requirements have been met, Tyrone Borough has been busy working hand-in-hand with the COBRHA organization in an attempt to make homes in Tyrone a safer, and better, place to live.
“Last year, we received $230,000 in funding for the program and we applied $70,000 of our 2001 CBDG (Community Block Development Grant) funding to that for a total of $300,000 for use in the HOME program,” said Phyllis Garhart, the borough’s director of administration. “With that money, we were able to rehabilitate 15 homes.”
Garhart noted that 13 of the projects have been completed and two are still in progress.
This year, because of the success of the program, the borough had applied for more state funding. Recently, it was announced that Tyrone will receive $320,000 for the program. Garhart said the borough is committing $80,500 of 2003 CDBG funding to the program for a total of $400,500.
“As long as there’s a waiting list, we’re going to go after the money,” said Garhart, noting that the current list has nearly 80 people in need of housing rehabilitation.
The program is two-pronged. Tyrone Borough’s role in the program is to set the eligibility requirements for the program through resolution. COBRHA administers the program.
“Because of the fear of favoritism, this is set up in this way,” said Garhart. “COBRHA selects who is in the most need of the service and follows through with the program.”
According to borough resolution, there are a number of eligibility requirements outlined.
The applicant must be an individual or family owning a single residential dwelling and occupying the same for at least 12 months prior to the filing of an application for rehabilitation assistance. The applicant must also qualify within the current income limits based on family size.
The applicant must also have available assets insufficient to finance the estimated cost of rehabilitation.
The order in which applicants are selected is also dictated by resolution. First on the list are “very-low” income elderly (age 62 and above) and disabled households. Second are “very-low” income non-elderly and non-disabled residents. Third are “low-income” elderly and disabled households. Fourth are “low-income” non-elderly and non-disabled residents. Fifth are special exceptions as determined by COBRHA.
No applicant who has received CDBG or HOME housing rehabilitation assistance for his or her property within five years of application to the program shall be eligible to receive assistance under the program.
The minimum amount of assistance for each project is $1,000 and the maximum is $20,000; however, Garhart said there are special exceptions when it comes to the maximum amount, and these are reviewed and awarded on a case-by-case basis.
Garhart also explained that the grants aren’t for people who want a new porch or who want to improve the aesthetics of their homes. The grants are only for homes that are in need of repair.
According to Garhart, lead removal is one of the highest priorities in the program. Unfortunately, there is only one certified lead contractor in the borough, thus making the administration of the program a slow process.
“We’re hoping that at some point, we’ll be able to use some of this grant money to train other contractors in the area with dealing with lead-related problems in homes,” she said.
Anyone interested in the program is encouraged to contact Tyrone Borough at 684-1330 or COBRHA at 949-1559.
