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Grant Will Help Rehab Newtown Housing

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Newtown soon will receive the $300,000 federal Department of Housing and Urban

Development block grant awarded late last year to rehabilitate housing for

low- and moderate-income families.

Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker said the director of the

state Office of Community Development and First Selectman Bob Cascella have

signed the agreement which will release the federal funds to the town.

Although $63,250 will be used to replace the pump station at Nunnawauk

Meadows, and program costs and administration must also be deducted, more than

$200,000 will be available for projects at private residences, she said.

Ms Stocker said there are approximately ten applications on a waiting list

from residents whose properties were not included in the last grant program.

"It's very difficult to say how many projects can be done because they range

in scope from $9,000 to as extensive as $30,000," she said. "We hope we will

be able to service all of those on the waiting list and other applicants."

Applicants are taken on a first-come, first-served basis, so Ms Stocker

encouraged anyone who is interested to get an application soon at the

community development office in Edmond Town Hall. All applicants must meet

income criteria to qualify.

As part of the grant, Ms Stocker said funds will be available for emergency

situations, such as if a furnace breaks down or a well runs dry at a property

owned by a low- or moderate-income individual or family.

"This money will be only for emergencies - which will go to the head of the

list - and referrals will come through Sheila Knox at the [town's] social

services department," Ms Stocker said.

The program will soon advertise for rehab specialists who will work with the

property owners to do cost estimates of the renovation projects. The firm of

L. Wagner & Associates of Waterbury supplied rehab specialists for the last

block grant program, Ms Stocker said, but any individual or firm that has the

credentials, expertise and experience with the Small Cities Program may apply.

Ms Stocker said most of the contractors hired under the last grant to do the

rehabilitation were local.

"Most of the money from the Small Cities grant was expended in town," she

said. "The program has been very good for the community, both in

rehabilitating local housing and in using local firms to do it."