The Charleston City Council Tuesday authorized support for continuing housing grants to assist homeowners and increase local aesthetics.

Mayor Dan Cougill said this year the city is submitting applications for approximately $186,000 worth of grants to repair five or six local homes.

This is the tenth year these grants, or “forgivable loans,” have been dedicated to Charleston residences, community development director Jeff Finley said.

“One-one hundred and twentieth of the loan is forgiven per month the owner lives there,” Finley said.

Loan recipients need not pay back their loans unless they sell the homes before a 10-year period. Should they sell their homes before the 10 years are up, they are responsible for 1/120 of the loan for each month left.

“The money is federal HUD (Housing and Urban Development) money passed to the state of Illinois Housing Development Authority,” Finley said. “We kind of stumbled on the program.”

Money had previously been going to bigger communities such as the Champaign, Bloomington and Chicago areas, but was eventually expanded.

Since Charleston joined the areas submitting applications, several homes have been submitted annually meaning repairs for approximately 70 homes.

The state housing authority allows $29,999 per home, Finley said, up $5,000 from previous years.

“The program we do is for owner-occupied, single-family homes,” Finley said.

Owners of single-family homes in need of repair apply for grant eligibility based on income, age, disabilities and the number of people in the household.

Coles County Regional Planning and the community work together to select the few who qualify.

They then submit a more extensive application which is sent to development authority for approval.

“This year we’re applying for money for six,” Finley said. “That is what we have gotten the past couple of years.”

“If people qualify for the grant, they try to give them some money.”

When the grant money is received for selected homes, representatives from regional planning and community development go through the homes with the owners, determining the necessary repairs.

“We fulfill code requirements first, then see what work could make the house more livable and energy efficient,” Finley said.

Instructions for contractors are then developed and another walk-through is done with a regional planner, a community development representative and the contractor, and bids are prepared.

“The owner has input but we actually solicit contractors to issue bids,” Finley said.

A successful bidder is chosen, contracts are issued between the contractor and homeowner, work is done and the city pays the bill.

“From the first application to the time the work is done would be 11 months or less,” Finley said.

“IHDA is good about it. If you qualify you get the money, the other part is the community’s success in completing previous projects,” Cougill said. “The work Jeff and regional planning does puts us in a good position with IHDA and gives us a good record.

“What we ask for is what we get; reputation is an important part.”

City editor Carly Mullady can be reached at [email protected].