City of New London receives community development grant

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

NEW LONDON ? The City of New London has been awarded a $230,000 grant from the Iowa Economic Development Authority in order to assist homeowners in rehabilitating their homes.

Dan Eberhardt, Regional Planner with the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission (SEIRPC), spoke to the city council Tuesday night about the community development block grant, a fund the city applied for once before, in 2014, and was not awarded.

?This will be for the rehab of a minimum of six houses in the targeted neighborhood,? Eberhardt told the council.

The program requires homeowners to reside in their residence for at least six months and be within the proposed target area, which encompasses neighborhoods around the school. The targeted area spans from Maple Street to Ash Street and Easy Street to Wilson and Division streets.

The homeowners would apply to the city and once selected, would receive up to $24,999 to bring their home up to Iowa Code. The funds could be used for plumbing, electrical, heating, as well as new doors, windows, siding and roofing.

Other requirements include that the homeowner?s annual income does not exceed 80 percent of the area?s median income, in New London that would be $35,500 for a single person household and $54,650 for a family of four. The home must be insured, property taxes paid, the homeowners must be in compliance of all city ordinances and the homeowner must live in the home for five years after completion of the renovations.

If the homeowner doesn?t fulfill the requirement to stay for five years, then they would have to pay the mortgage back to the city because the city would have taken out the loan. In previous discussion with Eberhardt, he stated the money for the project never touches the homeowners? hands; it?s all taken care of by the city.

Eberhardt said right now the city will be filling out paperwork, including signing a contract with the state. He estimates this could take anywhere from 30-35 days.

?We?ll probably begin the process of doing applications to individuals in that targeted neighborhood in, I?m going to say, September or October,? said Eberhardt.

At that time, Eberhardt said a public meeting to discuss the program more in-depth would be a good idea.

?Hopefully we can do some good, bring some money into the community, make some improvements and hopefully give some contractors, sub-contractors some business,? added Eberhardt.