USDA Awards Grants to Northeast Michigan Counties
Four counties in northeast Michigan have received Housing Preservation Grants from the United States Department of Agriculture.
Alpena, Arenac, Ogemaw, and Oscoda counties all received grants to repair or improve homes in their respective areas. Those three counties excluding Alpena received $87,200, while Alpena county received $137,220. Each county will contribute their own funds to the project. This funding will create economic opportunities for lower income families in rural Michigan and allow them to make necessary repairs to their homes. In Alpena, they’ve already helped install furnaces in some homes that didn’t have them before.
“It’s really important that we were able to keep people in the homes that they’re in, and so to help keep them where they’re at, but make sure that they’re safe and in a comfortable environment, that’s what we’re here for,” says Nicki Janish, Alpena County Public Conservator.
For the Alpena area, this should not only be a good thing for the homes they are repairing, but for the entire area.
“It might increase property values in the area of where we’re doing repairs, not necessarily just the home itself that we’re doing the repairs on, and like I said, just keeping people comfortable and safe in their homes,” Janish said.
The grant request was submitted in September of this year, and it finally got put into action last week.
