County makes plans for low income housing

Danielle Switalski

A public meeting was held in Plains last Tuesday night to discuss applying for a grant that would allow the county to purchase two foreclosed properties in order to rent them to low or moderate income families.

This is the first time in history Sanders County is partaking in a housing project for low income families.

The Sanders County Community Housing Organization was recently granted nonprofit status, which allows them to operate and maintain two properties in Plains that will provide affordable rental housing for low and moderate income families.  Once the county obtains the Community Development Block (CDB) grant, the county will be provided with the funding to purchase the two foreclosed properties. 

The meeting on Tuesday was held to hear public comment regarding  applying for the CDB grant.  The CDB grant will give the county $450,000 to purchase two duplexes from Lake County Bank.  The two properties are located on Sherwood Avenue and Second Avenue.  The properties will be purchased for 90 percent of the appraised price.

The county is also applying for the Neighborhood Stabilization grant, which gives the county $150,000 to use on these properties. 

Once the county is approved for these grants, the Sanders County Community Housing Organization will take over responsibility of the properties, which will offer four-three bedroom units that can hold a minimum family of four people.

“The county can’t just go out with this money and purchase any property or build with it, it’s an avenue for people who are getting foreclosed on to be able to come out of the hole, but there’s a real stipulation, the money goes through the county and has to be deeded to a nonprofit organization,” said Sanders County Chairman, Carol Brooker.  “It won’t be county run, it will be the nonprofit housing organization running it.”

Part of the grant money will go towards the rehabilitation of the properties.  One property has never been lived in and requires both units to be hooked up to city water and sewer.  

Once the four units are up to date and ready for occupants, the housing organization will look to rent to families who are Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved.  HUD has a program for low to moderate-income families to help them afford rent.  HUD is a calculation based upon a family’s income and 30 percent of their income will go towards rent and HUD pays the difference. 

“I feel it really makes a statement, it’s the first housing project that we’ve ever done in Sanders County for low income housing and it’s very needed, if you look at our last needs assessment that we did, it really is very obvious in that needs assessment that we need low income housing,” said Brooker.

In 2006, the annual pay for seniors was $12,904, with the cost of homes being well over $200,000, which puts 61 percent of their income going towards rent.  There were no members of the public in attendance at the town meeting on Tuesday night and it was decided, based upon these numbers and the overall need for low-income housing, that the county would go forth and apply for the grants.

Comments and questions can be directed to Reporter Danielle Switalski by emailing her at reporter@VP-MI.com or by calling her at 826-3402.