Up to six houses in Jefferson will receive help from a federally funded grant to make improvements.

The City Council recently approved a contract with the Iowa Economic Development Authority for a $245,000 grant for the Community Development Block Grant Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation Program. The program is run through the Region XII Council of Governments. City Administrator Mike Palmer says the City’s match for the grant is supplying up to $3,000 per house for a maximum of $18,000. Prior to the grant being awarded, Palmer points out that a targeted area was selected in the City as a requirement to receive the funds. He adds that the program has been helpful in the past.

“It’s a big, big help. There’s certain properties in that target area that Region XII actually goes out and they’ll approach owners and see if they would like to participate. It’s really a great way for people to improve their properties at a very, very minimal cost.”

A Region XII representative spoke to the Council at their meeting last week, and they sent out pre-verified applications to the targeted area homeowners as part of their application for the grant. Those homeowners who completed the pre-verification application will be sent a letter to go through the full income verification process, which will be done after January 1, 2018. Jefferson’s Housing Committee will then meet and rank the households and select the six homes that would qualify for the program.

Region XII will supervise and administer the project.