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A little over $1.1 million will be coming later this year to Lycoming County homeowners in need to help them in addressing habitability and safety issues in their homes through an agreement the county commissioners approved last week.
The Whole Home Repairs Grant Program Agreement with the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) in the amount of $1,103,133, was approved by the commissioners. The funds are part of the COVID-19 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocations and must be used by the end of 2026.
"The program itself and the way that it's being structured in Lycoming County is to assist homeowners in repairs that are going to be positively affecting the habitability of a home. So basically, anything from weatherization to structural changes. Those kinds of pieces are what are the key energy efficiency pieces of the program which is one of the requirements of the program itself," said Rachelle Abbott, chief operations and planning officer at STEP Inc.
"The other component is actually a workforce development component, which we are hopeful to coordinate with the Clean Energy Center at Penn College to provide for workforce development training, specifically in the field of housing construction. So that’s kind of early stages, and we’re excited about that partnership," she added.
In order to qualify for the program, a person must own their home.
An assessment will be done by STEP to determine the needs based on health, safety, habitability and weatherization.
"A scope of the work will be developed. The maximum, per homeowner and per household, is $50,000...that's not saying every household is going to get that amount," Abbott said.
Lycoming County will focus on the homeowner component which is the grant component of the program and not the landlord component.
"Other counties are doing both loans and grants, but Lycoming County is choosing to essentially make grants to homeowners," said Jenny Picciano, community/lead planner with the county's department of planning and community development.
The money will not go directly to homeowners, but the county will hire private contractors to do the work and make the repairs on behalf of the homeowners.
"One of the things we do already have is a Lycoming County unmet needs list. This is the list that we have that is basically individuals who do need home support. So that will be our first iteration. So applications will be sent out to individuals who are already on this unmet needs list," Abbott said.
"There is an eligibility process based on income and basically the audit of the homes to determine what is needed. So that’s going to be the first iteration. Then as people want to be put on the list, they'll be put on that unmet needs list as well," she said.
Typically, the income guidelines require that individuals be under the 300% of the area median income.
That could be senior citizens or families, the one main stipulation is that you have to own the property.
The process is still in the early stages. The county signed the contract with DCED and now they are waiting to get the signed contract back, Picciano said.
"Then after that there has to be an agreement developed between STEP and the county and then the county also needs to do an RFP (Request for Proposals) process," Abbott said.
"Basically general contractors are the contractors to do the work. That is going to be some time. I would say early iteration would be late summer," she added.
This is a new program for the county, Picciano said, so that they will need to establish new program protocols and hire contractors to actually do the construction.
Picciano also pointed out that it's also a new program with the state.
"From our understanding, DCED hopes to make this program permanent," Picciano said.
"The first year it's just funded with ARPA funds, but they hope to use other funding to continue the program in the future," Picciano said.