Resources to Support Housing, Public Facilities and Economic Development Initiatives throughout the State
(Concord, N.H.) – The New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA) has awarded $3.2 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to New Hampshire communities. These critical resources will support housing, public facilities and economic development projects in communities throughout the state.
“Community Development Block Grant funds are a vital resource for the strengthening of New Hampshire communities and deploying critical resources,” stated Katherine Easterly Martey, Executive Director, CDFA. “The impact of these investments in our communities is significant. These seven projects alone will create or preserve 176 affordable housing units, support improvements to public facilities that will serve 8,844 residents and generate six full-time early education jobs that will also increase access to child care. We are honored to deploy these federal funds into meaningful projects being led by partners across the state and leverage private capital to help advance the needs of New Hampshire communities.”
Projects approved by CDFA’s Community Development Advisory Committee include:
Economic Development
Town of Belmont – Boys & Girls Clubs of Central and Northern New Hampshire – $210,000: Grant funds will be used to install a playground at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central and Northern New Hampshire’s child care center at the Gale School in Belmont, which is being renovated by Lakes Region Community Developers. The addition of the playground allows the child care center to meet minimum licensing requirements, enhances the childcare space and adds to the building renovation and community vibrancy. The child care center will create six full-time jobs to staff the new center which will create 35 new child care spaces in the Lakes Region. The new full-time jobs include benefits and training.
Housing
County of Coös – Affordable Housing, Education and Development (AHEAD) – $500,000: Resources will be used to replace six aging boilers and associated infrastructure at the Monadnock Village Apartments, a fifty unit, eight building affordable housing complex in Colebrook serving elderly residents and adults with disabilities. Additional upgrades include rebuilding and resurfacing all paved areas on the property for improved safety, as well as energy saving improvements.
City of Keene – Monadnock Affordable Housing Corporation – $750,000: Monadnock Affordable Housing Corporation will use grant funds to support the construction of thirty units of permanently affordable service enriched housing on Washington Street in Keene. All units will include access to housing subsidies which will reduce residents’ housing costs to about thirty percent of their monthly income. Residents will also have access to a comprehensive program of supportive services. Five apartments will be reserved for households or individuals experiencing homelessness or those in immediate danger of becoming homeless. Additional supportive services will be offered to these residents to help stabilize their households.
City of Claremont – Claremont Housing Authority – $459,300: Claremont Housing Authority will leverage the grant resources to repair and replace two elevators in the Marion Phillips Apartments. Improvements will address safety and ADA accessibility needs, as well as make the elevators more energy efficient. Ninety-six units which house ninety-nine residents will be positively impacted by this project, the majority of which are elderly tenants and adults with disabilities.
Public Facilities
County of Coös – Coös County Nursing Hospital –$300,000: Grant funds will be used to make improvements to the primary elevator at the Coös County Nursing Hospital in West Stewartstown. The upgrades will make the elevator code compliant regarding safety and ADA accessibility and enable the thirty-four-year-old elevator to continue to provide critical transport functions between multiple floors of the facility, which currently houses fifty-two residents.
City of Franklin – Franklin Opera House Inc. – $500,000: The Franklin Opera House will use grant funds to support renovations to its space within Soldiers Memorial Hall in downtown Franklin. The Franklin Opera House portion of the building is currently unusable due to non-compliance with life safety codes. Renovations will bring the building into compliance with all applicable codes and restore the benefits of this vibrant community space to Franklin’s residents.
City of Lebanon – Families Flourish Northeast – $500,000: Families Flourish Northeast will leverage grant resources to support the construction of a new twelve-bed, in-patient residential treatment facility for pregnant and parenting women with sever substance use disorder. The program will support women as they move from initial stabilization through treatment, recovery maintenance, and re-entry into the community setting. This facility will help meet a significant need to increase access to treatment for severe substance use disorders among women in New Hampshire. Only two residential treatment programs exist in the state that accommodate women who are pregnant and/or with children, with a total of twenty-six beds in all.
The grant awards await final approval from the Governor and Executive Council.
CDFA has awarded more than $204 million in Community Development Block Grant funds since 2003. These critical federal resources have been deployed to communities throughout New Hampshire and have a significant impact on economic development, housing and community-based initiatives which primarily benefit low- and moderate-income people in New Hampshire. Funding for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is provided to New Hampshire through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
To learn more about CDFA, its impact on New Hampshire communities, and available funding resources, visit www.nhcdfa.org.
About the Community Development Finance Authority
The Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA) is a statewide nonprofit public authority focused on maximizing the value and impact of community development, economic development and clean energy initiatives throughout New Hampshire. The organization leverages a variety of financial and technical resources, including the competitive deployment of grant, loan and equity programs. Those resources include New Hampshire state tax credits, federal Community Development Block Grant resources and the CDFA Clean Energy Fund. For more information about CDFA and its programs visit www.nhcdfa.org or call 603-226-2170.
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