Friday April 19, 2024
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SubscribeGov. Matt Bevin today joined federal, state and local officials in Georgetown to announce $3,471,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for housing rehabilitation projects across the Commonwealth.
These federal funds, allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and administered by the Kentucky Department for Local Government (DLG), will benefit 45 families in central, north, east and west Kentucky.
“We are excited to announce nearly $3.5 million in CDBG funding that will benefit families here in Georgetown and across the Commonwealth,” said Gov. Bevin. “Increasing safe, affordable housing is vital to strengthening our communities and promoting economic opportunity. We are grateful to our federal, state and local partners who will help us make these projects a reality for homeowners in Campbell, Christian, Hopkins, Perry and Scott counties.”
CDBG awards include:
- $804,000 to the Campbell County Fiscal Court for the rehabilitation of six vacant and dilapidated houses for sale to low- and moderate-income families,
- $791,000 to the City of Hazard (Perry County), for the acquisition and demolition of a shopping center to construct 15 new single-family homes,
- $366,000 to the City of Crofton (Christian County), for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of five homes for low- and moderate-income families,
- $510,000 to the City of Georgetown (Scott County), for the rehabilitation of eight homes in the Boston area, and
- $1,000,000 to the Hopkins County Fiscal Court for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of 11 homes for low- and moderate-income families.
Mayor Tom Prather noted the impact of today’s grant announcements, which took place in a ceremony at Georgetown City Hall.
“Georgetown is delighted to host Gov. Bevin for these important announcements! We are excited about efforts to improve our neighborhoods, and grants like the Governor announced today are critical to the success of each community represented,” he said.
Members of the community’s delegation to the General Assembly also celebrated the major CDBG funding awards.
“These critical projects are an excellent illustration of government agencies working together to improve communities in all corners of the Commonwealth,” said Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, of Georgetown. “This investment will have a tremendous impact on the quality of affordable housing in Georgetown and in other communities across Kentucky. I’m grateful to Gov. Bevin and the Department for Local Government for their support of this project.”
“Increasing the available stock of affordable housing and improving our neighborhoods are two very important issues in the City of Georgetown,” said Representative Phillip Pratt, of Georgetown. “These grant awards provide a much-needed opportunity to revitalize our communities, and I’m grateful to Gov. Bevin and DLG Commissioner Sandy Dunahoo for coordinating these grants.”
The CDBG grant program, overseen by HUD, provides assistance to communities for use in revitalizing neighborhoods, expanding affordable housing and economic opportunities, providing infrastructure and/or improving community facilities and services. CDBG projects must comply with federal regulations, and funding is determined based upon project needs, reasonable costs, and overall effectiveness.
DLG is an arm of the Office of the Governor dedicated to supporting local officials and communities. To learn more about resources and opportunities available through DLG, visit http://kydlgweb.ky.gov.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $3.4 million to prevent and end homelessness among young people in Louisville, Kentucky. HUD’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP), supports a wide range of housing interventions including rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, and host homes.
HUD’s is awarding $3.45 million to the Coalition for the Homeless, Inc which successfully and innovatively addressed homelessness through specific initiatives targeting homeless subpopulations especially youth leveraging city and community support in housing, education, employment and other supportive services.
“Young people who are victims of abuse, family conflict, or aging out of foster care are especially vulnerable to homelessness,” said HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “We’re working with our local partners to support innovative new approaches to help young people find stable housing, break the cycle of homelessness and lead them on a path to self-sufficiency.”
“One of the things we learned last year in our city’s very successful 100-Day Challenge to house homeless youth is that to really meet these young citizens’ needs, we have to understand each of them as individuals, where they’ve come from, what they’ve been through and what challenges they’re facing,” said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer. “We also saw that with greater resources, we could, with partners like the Coalition for the Homeless, do even more. And that’s what makes today’s announcement so exciting – it will allow us to house more young people, and get them on the path to a healthy, stable and productive life.”
“The youth and young adults of our community are our future, but they are also our present. As a community, we must help them succeed through housing, education, employment and other supports,” said Natalie Harris, the Executive Director of the Coalition for the Homeless.” By working together, Louisville was able to meet the challenge of reducing the number of homeless youth and young adults by half. This award will help us reach the final goal of housing any homeless youth in our community and providing them with the resources to succeed.”
“This is an important new investment in our common cause…to confront and ultimately eliminate youth homelessness here in Louisville, Kentucky,” said HUD SE Deputy Regional Adminstrator
Christopher Taylor. “More importantly, we come together today to make a common statement about this vexing problem of youth homelessness. We cannot…we must not…accept young people living on our streets and in our shelters.
To ensure the Youth Homelessness Prevention Demonstration Program meets the needs of young people, HUD relied upon the recommendations of young people who experienced homelessness themselves. Many of these same young people participated in reviewing the applications of communities seeking YHDP funds. Their input helped ensure that the communities selected for funding understand the needs and preferences of the young people they will serve. HUD also worked closely with its federal partners at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Education (DOE), and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) to help develop the program and review applications.
HUD selected 11 communities nationwide which will collaborate with a broad array of partners including a youth action board and the local or state public child welfare agency. These communities now have four months to develop and submit to HUD a coordinated community plan to prevent and end youth homelessness. They will also participate in a program evaluation to inform the federal effort to prevent and end youth homelessness going forward and will serve as leaders in the nation on the work to end homelessness among young people.
YHDP recipients will use funding for rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, and transitional housing, and to fund innovative programs, such as host homes. Recipients can begin requesting funding for specific projects as soon as they are ready. YHDP will also support youth-focused performance measurement and coordinated entry systems. Over the next several months, selected communities will work with their youth advisory boards, child welfare agencies, and other community partners to create a comprehensive community plan to end youth homelessness.
In a continuous effort to keep families and their children safe from lead-based paint and other home health and safety hazards, Lead Safe Louisville, a partnership between the Office of Housing and Community Development and the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness., received $2.9 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to eliminate lead hazards that exist in both owner-occupied and rental units. HUD awarded more than $127 million to 48 state and local government agencies
The grant funding announced today will reduce the number of children with elevated blood lead levels, and protect nearly 7,600 families living in homes with significant lead and other home health and safety hazards. HUD’s Lead Based Paint Hazard Control grant programs have a proven history of success, filling critical needs in communities where no other resources exist to address substandard housing that threatens the health of the most vulnerable residents.
Today in Washington, DC, HUD Secretary Ben Carson announced the new funding during an event that featured a panel discussion about the importance of public and private partnerships to the work of healthy homes. With HUD celebrating June’s National Healthy Homes Month, Carson said he wants to make lead paint hazard removal a top priority.
In a national release HUD Secretary Ben Carson said, “Children perform better at school and in life if they live in a healthy home. A healthy start at home translates to a successful life outside of the home. HUD is committed to working with local communities to eradicate lead paint poisoning to make sure our homes are safe and ensure positive outcomes for families and their kids.”
Also in that release, Jon L. Gant, Director of HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes said, “Millions of families and children are seeing their hope for the future threatened by poor health simply because of where they live. This round of funding includes awards to eight cities that are receiving grant awards for the first time. We are pleased the program is expanding into these previously unserved communities.”
Housing improvements, such as removing lead help prevent injuries and illnesses, reduce associated health care and social services costs, reduce absentee rates for children in school and adults at work, and reduce stress—all which help to improve the quality of life.
The purpose of the Lead-Safe Louisville Program is to eliminate lead hazards that exist in both owner-occupied and rental units in the Metro Louisville area, especially those in which children under six years of age reside. Houses and apartments built before 1978 are most likely to have lead-based paint which can create a hazard to its inhabitants. Key risk factors are chipping or peeling paint on doors, windows, woodwork or exterior siding. Children are particularly prone to lead poisoning in such environments.
Eligible units are based on the following:
- Built prior to 1978
- A child 5 years or younger or pregnant woman lives in the home or a child 5 years or younger visits a minimum of 6 hours a week
- Occupant is low income 80% AMI based on size of family
For more information on Lead Safe Louisville, please call 574-1965 or visit https://louisvilleky.gov/government/housing-community-development/lead-s…