The City of Bloomington is looking to expand its homeowner rehabilitation program after seeing an increase in state funding.The Illinois Housing Development Authority is granting the city $378,000 to help eight low-income single-family homeowners, that's about $45,000 per homeowner. If the eight chosen projects come in below that amount, the city could expand the number of recipients.
Bloomington grants coordinator Jennifer Toney noted that's a 60% increase from what the city received in the last funding cycle two years ago.
“I think part of that is we had a history with the program,” Tony said. “I think they were happy with what we did the first time around and so that helped.”
The IHDA awarded Bloomington $236,000 for homeowner rehab grants in 2017. That money funded six projects.
Toney explained after seeing how popular the grant program was two years ago, the city is limiting its waiting list to 20 this time.
“We had a three-day application period, but by not cutting it off at a certain number, we ended up with (more than) 50 applications,” Toney said. “That set people up for an unreasonable expectation or maybe getting assistance that was never going to be there. So we just decided this time to make it a little more fair, I guess.”
Homeowners can apply starting May 20 at 7:30 a.m. at the city's Community Development Department at the Government Center, 115 E. Washington St., by calling the office at (309) 434-2342, or by emailing Toney at jtoney@cityblm.org.
WGLT depends on financial support from users to bring you stories and interviews like this one. As someone who values experienced, knowledgeable, and award-winning journalists covering meaningful stories in Central Illinois, please consider making a contribution.
