By Joshua Schuetz
The City of Winnebago will soon launch a housing rehabilitation program aimed at helping low-and-moderate income residents to repair their homes.
The program, which is modeled after the state’s Small Cities Development Program (SCDP) was developed by CEDA team member Jennifer Howard, who applied for funds from the Blandin Foundation to seed the program.
“It was Jennifer Howard who started this-this is her program, and I’m just taking care of it and wrapping it up while she is mobilized with the National Guard,” said CEDA team member Dave Schmidt. “We received $120,000 from the Blandin Foundation and we have an additional $20,000 from the SCDP that we will put in the same fund to move forward with the program.”
Schmidt also works in CEDA’s planning department and said Winnebago’s housing rehabilitation needs align with those of similar communities.
“As we’ve been doing these housing studies with small towns in Greater Minnesota, we’re seeing that 50 to 70 percent of the housing stock in these cities was built prior to 1960,” Schmidt said. “If those homes aren’t maintained, communities can lose that housing stock due to dilapidation, which worsens the housing shortage.”
Winnebago’s program is designed to help prevent that from happening. Schmidt said the program’s goal is to rehabilitate up to 10 homes in town. The program will be structured as a 100 percent forgivable loan, forgiven over 10 years, with a maximum of $15,000 per applicant.
Schmidt said the application structure is currently being developed, but residents are already calling the Winnebago EDA with inquiries about the program.
“We presented it to the city council, and it was in the local paper and already we’ve had multiple calls in from residents asking to be notified when applications are available,” he said. “That tells us there’s interest, which is exciting.”