Photo courtesy of Village of Laurium The Village of Laurium has scheduled a public hearing for March 17 to hear comments from residents on a Community Development Block Grant for home upgrades.

LAURIUM – Officials in the Village of Laurium announced the allocation of $400,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds from the Michigan Housing Development Authority (MSHDA). Currently, the Village is in the final stages of being awarded the allocated funding.

The Village Council has scheduled a Public Hearing for 6 p.m. on March 17 to hear comments from the general public on the funding, or any interested Third-Party Administrators that would possibly like to partner with the project.

According to MSDHA, a third-party administrator is defined as a person who directly or indirectly processes claims under a service contract. A business organization that performs administrative services such as billing, plan design, claims processing, record keeping, and regulatory compliance activities.

“The funding is to support people who are looking for energy-efficiency updates, or like siding, or to help clean up blight in the area,” Village Manager Ian Lewis said last week.

The proposed use of the CDBG funding is to help residential homeowners that meet the low to moderate-income threshold with energy efficient or safety projects, according to a Monday release on the village’s social media page.

“This includes projects such as roof replacement, insulation, windows and doors, heating systems, accessibility upgrades, (weatherization) projects, and so forth,” the release states. The Village expects to assist approximately 20 homeowners with this allocated funding.

MSHDA’s CDBG Housing Improving Local Livability (CHILL) Program provides annual grants to non-entitlement units of general local government–cities, towns, townships, villages, or counties not currently receiving a direct allocation of CDBG funds from HUD. Two activity types are eligible for funding: homeowner rehabilitation, to preserve affordable housing units; and demolition/reconstruction/resale, to remove blight and infill with single-family housing for resale to income eligible homebuyers, according to the MSHDA website.

At the regular January Council meeting, Lewis said the village received the grant for low-income blighted properties. It covers siding, furnaces, and windows. Admin fees will be paid at 18%.

“We’re excited to have the funds allocated to us,” Lewis sais. “We’ll be having a public hearing on it before the Village Council meeting on March 17.”