Kokomo Housing Authority gets $1 million from HUD

Funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be used to make necessary repairs to facilities owned and operated by the Kokomo Housing Authority.

The Kokomo Housing Authority (KHA) has been awarded $1,013,695 through the federal economic stimulus package signed into law last month.

Announcement of the award through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was made by Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Granger, last Friday.

Shirley Young, executive director of KHA, said the funds come at a good time for the local agency, which has 522 units of low income housing available in Kokomo.

Young said a recent study showed that there was a $32 billion backlog in repairs to public housing, and the stimulus bill provides $3 billion for such repairs.

"It will make a big dent in the smaller communities," Young said.

Young said the agency requested $1.8 million in funding last October to spend on repairs.

"We have a number of items planned for these funds," she said. "All of our developments will be touched by the repair work."

Young said if KHA gets its regular annual allocation of $800,000 for capital projects, all of the necessary repairs could be completed.

"All the work will be done by contractors," she said. "Depending on the work and the amount, it will be through requests for proposals or bid."

Young said the planned work includes roof repairs at Garden Square; new furnaces and hot water heaters at Dunbar Court; and interior and exterior doors at the Terrace Tower.

The City of Kokomo will receive $265,707 in Community Development Block Grant funds, which can be used for a number of different projects as determined by the administration of Mayor Greg Goodnight.

That money will be in addition to the city's normal annual allotment of CDBG money, Goodnight said Monday.

He said the city has no immediate plans for the additional CDBG funding, and will probably use it "to add to what we already do with CDBG," Goodnight said.

Before the stimulus bill passed, the city was expected to receive about $978,872, roughly the same amount as last year.

The city's Citizen Review Committee, which makes recommendations on CDBG funding requests, will hold a public meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Louks Conference Room, first floor, City Hall. Residents will have a chance to be heard at the meeting.

The final public meeting, in which the city administration will announce proposed projects and solicit public input on the proposal, will be at 10 a.m. March 19, in council chambers, City Hall.

Infrastructure improvements, emergency housing repairs, handicap accessibility and blight remediation are the main recipients of CDBG funding.