Community Development Assistance Program Public Facilities and Housing Rehabilitation Funds Available By JAY HEDGES, Director, Department of Commerce & Community Affairs

Illinois communities that are preparing for the future by developing coordinated plans to improve their public facilities and housing may lack adequate financial resources to fund the projects included in the plans. If their plans include water or sewer system projects or housing rehabilitation, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA) may be able to provide assistance through the public facilities and housing component of the Community Development Assistance Program (CDAP). DCCA has reserved $12,649,220 for such assistance. The maximum grant funding level is $400,000. A community may receive no more than one public facilities and housing grant in a program year. In 1989, the application deadline is July 31.

This program is funded by the Community Development Block Grant Program that was established by the Federal Housing and Community Development Act. It is administered by the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. Units of general local government (i.e., cities, villages, townships and counties) that have a population of 50,000 or less and are not located in urban counties that receive "entitlement" funds are eligible to apply for CDAP funds.

Many Illinois communities have used CDAP funds to assist in financing projects that have corrected serious deficiencies in public facilities and housing such as replacement of deteriorated water distribution systems, installation of sewage treatment plants and improvement of housing stock to restore declining neighborhoods.

For example, a CDAP grant of $400,000 enabled the Village of Patoka and the Patoka Rural Water District to secure financing for the construction and maintenance of a public water storage and distribution system. The District will serve approximately 300 system users located in the Fayette and Marion Counties. The home-owners had relied on privately-owned wells which were contaminated. The District will purchase water from the Village of Patoka and install transmission lines, a pumping station and elevated storage tank. As a result of the $2,240,000 project, the District customers were provided with a safe and sanitary water supply.

In an attempt to improve its housing stock, the Village of Cave-in-Rock requested CDAP funds to rehabilitate nineteen substandard homes. The residents in the homes were low to moderate income persons who could not afford to make the necessary repairs without assistance. The village received $92,250 from the CDAP program, which was combined with Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) grants and homeowner cash equity. The rehabilitation activities included the installation of new wiring, roofing, porches and guttering to bring the homes up to HUD Section 8 guidelines.

All applications received by the department are reviewed for eligibility. Eligible projects are then ranked and placed into one of four composite ranking categories — maximum, moderate, minimum or no rating — using criteria based on community need, project benefit, and resource leveraging. Eligibility requirements include documentation that a minimum of 51 percent of the CDAP funds will benefit low to moderate-income persons. The percentage of low to moderate-income persons in the project benefit area may be documented

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through a local community survey or through the 1980 census data. A higher percentage of benefit to low to moderate-income persons will result in a higher ranking of an application.

In addition, applications for public facilities projects must document that the project will correct an existing and chronic threat to health and safety in the community caused by the lack of or a deficiency in a public facility. Applications for housing rehabilitation projects must describe a strategy to correct a major and serious decline in housing stock in a targeted area of the community. In housing rehabilitation projects, CDAP funds will be used to assist only low to moderate-income households.

The need for CDAP funds by the community is a major factor in evaluation of applications for ranking. Evidence of past or current efforts to secure alternative or additional funds for the project will improve the ranking of an application. Twenty-five percent of the total project must be funded from other sources in order for the application to receive a maximum ranking in the category of resource leveraging.

The CDAP application process also involves coordination with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), the Historic Preservation Agency, and the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Projects require clearance by each of the agencies prior to implementation. To assure technical feasibility of the project designs for water and sewer projects, the department obtains technical reviews from the IEPA and FmHA.

In conclusion, when Illinois communities that are eligible for CDAP funds have assessed their public facilities and housing stock, they have an opportunity to obtain assistance for correcting serious problems that they identified through the Community Development Assistance Program administered by DCCA.

For further information on this Community Development Assistance Program component, contact Eileen Denham, Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, at (217) 785-6150. •

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