Housing Authority receives capital funding

0

Recently the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the release of $74 million in capital funds, aimed at improving and preserving public housing in Ohio. Of the available funding Portsmouth Metropolitan Housing Authority (PMHA) will receive $1.19 million.

Peggy Rice, Executive Director of PMHA, said this year’s capital allocation is part of a five-year plan developed by the agency in conjunction with HUD.

PMHA manages 886 housing units.

“That’s more than 886 bathrooms, 886 kitchens, you’ve got floor tiles, heating systems and you’ve got domestic hot water systems,” Rice said. “For our five year capital plan those are some of the things to take into consideration.”

She said the $1,190,441 awarded to PMHA is an increase of $50,000 over capital funds received in 2015.

When asked about plans for the money Rice said, “Our major push is going to be Alexandria House, we have a lot of exterior work we need to do there. We also are looking at some roofs that need to be addressed in our capital funding planning this year.”

“We have some sanitary lines that we need to look at and we have some drainage concerns that we’ll be looking at. We’re hoping we’ll have some money left over after address those things that we can maybe upgrade some windows,” Rice said.

She said the exterior work on the Alexandria House is anticipated to include, looking at drainage issues, there are three flights of stairs in the building that residents use, and some of the funding will be used to address those among other issues.

Rice said in order to get the work started an environmental review will need to be completed by the office of the Scioto County Commissioners. Once the review is complete, it has to be sent to HUD by March 16.

“We’re hoping the money will be available to us by the first of May,” Rice said. “

She said one of the first steps of getting the work completed includes having an architect look at the proposed work to define the scope of the work for a contractor.

According to HUD, the Capital Fund Program offers annual funding to 3,100 public housing authorities across the country to build, repair, renovate and modernize the public housing in their communities.

“HUD has a responsibility to provide public housing residents with a quality and safe roof over their heads,” said HUD Secretary Julian Castro in a released statement. “This funding, in addition to assistance from the private sector through HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration Program, will help housing authorities address longstanding capital improvements and preserve and enhance America’s affordable housing.”

Housing authorities throughout the region also received similar funding. The Pike Metropolitan Housing Authority received $114,836, the Ironton Metropolitan Housing Authority received $349, 589 and the Adams Metropolitan Housing Authority received $173,328.

For more information about the programs of Portsmouth Metropolitan Housing Authority visit them at www.pmha.us.

.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}

http://portsmouth-dailytimes.aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2016/02/web1_pmha-logo-3.jpg

By Wayne Allen

[email protected]

Wayne Allen can be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 1933 or on Twitter @WayneallenPDT

No posts to display