SCCHO presents grant opportunities

THOMPSON FALLS – The public hearing of community needs took place Wednesday night on Jan. 22 in the Sanders County Courthouse. The meeting aimed to share different grants available to the public and how to obtain them.

The plan was also to discuss with the public the $10,000 planning grant received by the Sanders County Community Housing Organization for affordable independent senior housing.

The meeting was sponsored by the Sanders County Commissioners in collaboration with Sanders County Community Development Corporation, Lake County Community Development Corporation and SCCHO.

SCCHO’s plan for independent and affordable housing for the elderly has been in the works for some time. The plan is to address some of the major concerns voiced by the citizens of Sanders County and an increasing elderly population.

In a previous project SCCHO purchased five duplexes in Plains and converting them into affordable housing. After the project was a success, SCCHO wanted to achieve a similar feat but this time targeting the older demographic.

A citizen attending the meeting said Sanders County is a county that is aging and the need to take care of the elderly is not going away. SCCHO Local Administrator Deb Achatz agreed with the stated housing issue.

“Housing concerns the old and the young. Now is the time to go for the grant,” Achatz said.

SCCHO already obtained a $10,000 planning grant for the project. The next step is to get the actual construction grant.

The Community Development Block Grant is a planning grant that focuses on community revitalization and is intended to benefit low to moderate income families.

Eligible applicants are cities or towns with a population below 50,000 that have a consolidated city-county government. The CDBG grant has a cap of $450,000 and the deadline to receive it is April 3, 2014.

According to Billie Lee, member of the Certified Regional Development Corporation, the CDBG grant originated from the need to help struggling communities re-build.

Many communities are currently struggling because of the poor economy. Sanders County still receives federal funding but not as much as it once did.

Lee said Sanders County now only receives about a third of what it did twenty plus years ago. At that time the county was receiving approximately 18 million dollars in grant money. As federal budgets were cut, funds used for assisting communities were cut as well.

The current economy has made obtaining funds more of a challenge. This is something the board members know well.

“They only have a finite amount of funding and are competing with the rest of the state,” Lee said.

It requires time to yield results but the board continues to work towards improving Sanders County.

“The process is slow but the key is to keep applying,” Lee said.

The meeting was attended by numerous concerned citizens, something Lee indicated was very important.

“Community interest and participation can make or break a grant,” Lee said.

Improvement projects are not easy to achieve. Lee knows this better than most.

“It is a puzzle that requires everyone to sit down and piece it together,” Lee said.

The board intends to continue working on the affordable and independent elderly housing project. The next steps are to obtain the grant, sort through the details and begin construction in the spring.