WCDC Receives Housing Grant

Safe, affordable housing is a necessity for everyone. And, for some moderate- to low-income families in Warsaw, that need may soon be easier to meet.

Trish Brown, director of Warsaw Community Development Corp. announced the organization received a $30,010 grant from the Indiana Housing Finance Authority to begin the process of of expanding the number of affordable rental homes in the downtown area.

"We're looking at targeting about 15 homes around and in the downtown business district," she said. "We're very excited about receiving this grant."

Brown said the funds will be used to pay the predevelopment costs for the housing, including acquisition and renovation studies for the 15 units.

"The city Housing Authority conducted a study in 1991 and it showed there was a wealth of upper-end housing, but a shortage of clean, safe and affordable housing," she said.

The Warsaw Housing Authority is currently conducting an update to its Comprehensive Housing Needs Assessment, according to Executive Director Catharine Walker.

"There are three government subsidized complexes that are privately owned," she said. "Other than that, all our clients rent from the private sector. " The authority currently has 211 clients, but the number changes almost daily. "It fluctuates between 190 and 220 families usually," Walker said.

Assuring safe and affordable housing can be a double-edged sword, according to Brown. The grant will be used primarily to replace older housing units that were taken off the market because the city deemed them unsafe.

"With the city being more aggressive in enforcing the unsafe housing code - which is a good thing - there has been a reduction in available affordable housing," she said. "We're looking at three areas - rehabbing housing that meets the safety standards; constructing affordable housing on what are now vacant lots and acquiring new affordable housing units."

The grant money, being distributed by the IHFA, is being made available through Indiana's allocation of the federal HOME Investment Partnership program, administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.