Madden: Over $345K in grants to Monroe County for affordable housing

STROUDSBURG, June 10 – In keeping with her commitment to bring home much needed grant funding, state Rep Maureen Madden, D-Monroe, said the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency has awarded Monroe County $347,660 in state grants for senior housing and other low-income rehabilitation services.

Madden said housing assistance can make a significant difference in the economic well-being of low-income families.

“Decent affordable housing enables families on tight budgets to spend their hard-earned dollars on food to feed their families and on health care and I am pleased that Monroe County agencies will get the funding they need to continue providing affordable housing,” Madden said

Madden said the following agencies have received funding:

  • $150,000 to Monroe County Senior Housing Rehabilitation Redevelopment Authority of Monroe County. PHARE funds will be used to assist qualified low-income senior homeowners (60 or older) with necessary repairs on their homes to diminish substandard senior housing units, maintain and extend the life of existing affordable housing inventory, correct health and safety hazards and improve the quality of life and independence for the senior homeowner population of Monroe County.

  • $125,000 to Family Promise of Monroe/Pike Counties for homelessness prevention/rapid rehousing to provide emergency housing in partnership with Pike County Human Services. The primary goal of the program is to reduce the number of households experiencing homelessness in Monroe and Pike counties; reduce the length of time households remain homeless; reduce the extent to which individuals and families, who exit homelessness to permanent housing, return to homelessness; and intervene to prevent the onset of homelessness.

  • $72,660 to Rapid Re-Housing for Homeless Youth in Monroe County. The Valley Youth House will expand a new Re-Housing Program for homeless, transition-age youth in Monroe County. The program is already serving five households and will expand to 10 households with this funding.

According to Madden, the PHARE fund is managed by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, with its funding provided from several sources. The primary funding source coming from impact fees collected from natural gas companies operating in the state with the goal of addressing the housing shortage caused by the impact of drilling. The fund is supplemented with funding provided by a portion of the realty transfer tax.