Commissioners moving forward with homeowner rehabilitation assistance program

The Dubois County Commissioners approved contracting with Indiana 15 to administer grants through the Office of Community and Rural Affairs to assist a homeowner rehabilitation program and the Head Start Preschool Program offered through TRI-CAP.

Funded through a Community Block Development Grant with OCRA, the county learned of the program by taking part in the Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program (HELP).

To increase the impact of the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Indiana communities received under the American Rescue Plan Act, the state created HELP to combine state funding opportunities with local funds to create pathways to achieve specific goals to strengthen the participating community. This is achieved through four pathways — advancing e-connectivity, promoting community wellness, enhancing the quality of place, and strengthening local economies.

Locally, Dubois County and the City of Jasper are both taking part in the HELP program, and these programs will benefit both county and city residents.

About $700,000 of the $1 million grant will be used to help qualified homeowners with needed repairs to their homes to make them more livable. Once a homeowner submits an application showing their eligibility under federal income guidelines, a site visit to the home will be scheduled to ensure it is environmentally safe for rehabilitation. If granted, the work will be conducted by locally approved contractors and then inspected once it is complete.

According to County Commissioner Chad Blessinger, the program is a way to point homeowners to a funding opportunity to make their homes more livable. He also noted this won’t cover aesthetic updates to a home.

The remaining portion of the grant will be used to assist TRI-CAP’s Head Start Preschool programming for children whose families fall within federal poverty guidelines. The specific details of what the funds will support will be determined soon between TRI-CAP and the local units (Dubois County and Jasper) with assistance from the grant administrator.

The funds will be available from 2023-2025.