Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Funds from the second grant for owner-occupied rehabilitation are nearly depleted, and three more loan requests were approved Monday by the Warsaw Housing Authority board of directors.
The housing authority has so far approved 17 loans from the $300,000 grant through Indiana Housing Finance Authority (14 homes were rehabilitated with the first such grant). Another grant will be applied for next year, with homeowners who didn't receive assistance this year given first consideration if the funds are awarded.
The WHA board reviewed four loan requests Monday, but denied one because the applicants have a lot of bills in collection and seem to be chronically late in making payments on other bills.
Of the three approved, one needs insulation, installation of a wheelchair ramp, new windows and a new well or hook-up to city water; one need a new roof, furnace and doors, electrical work and a problem with water in the basement rectified; and one needs a wheelchair ramp, a new roof and windows, foundation repair and work on a water problem in the basement. The work is estimated at $10,000, $15,000 and $17,000, respectively.
Another inspection will be done by WHA officials before the loan reaches final approval. If any of these three loans cannot be completed with funds from this grant, it will be bumped to the next round. Catharine Walker, executive director of WHA, estimated that just two of the requests can be met.
This grant will be closed out by the end of June, with all monies committed before the end of December.
The next grant, for $200,000, will be written with the matching funds already lined up, according to Walker.
In the Section 8 program, the caseload is at 190, with 36 families looking for housing. Walker said she has some concern with the fact that the agency is carrying 10 more families on the voucher program than it is approved for, but said that she has been repeatedly assured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that the WHA will be reimbursed for those funds.
There are 128 families on the certificate program and 62 on the voucher program.
Walker told the board that she is interviewing for the housing programs manager position with Housing Opportunities of Warsaw, and hopes to have it filled by the third week of September. The prospective employee will be introduced at the next board meeting, set for 5:15 p.m. Sept. 28 in the WHA office.
HOW is a nonprofit, tax exempt housing development corporation created by the WHA to serve the needs of low- to moderate-income residents of Kosciusko County.
