Dougherty County homeowners can apply for CHIP grants

ALBANY — Dougherty County residents who meet specific Department of Community Affairs income requirements are eligible to receive up to $49,000 for home repairs through the Community Home Investment Program, which is overseen in the area by the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission.

The Dougherty County Commission, with the guidance of Regional Commission Senior Planner Barbara Reddick and Grants Administrator Brenda Wade, applied for and was approved for $300,000 in CHIP grant money that may be used for home repairs in the unincorporated area of the county. Those two will conduct a public hearing Thursday for people interested in applying for the grants.

“The CHIP grants have become very competitive, but we were pleased that Dougherty County’s application was approved,” Reddick told the Dougherty County Commission at its business meeting Monday morning. “Optimistically, we’d like to use the grant money to repair up to 10 homes in the targeted area, but six or seven units is normally what we’re able to do.

“We try to squeeze as much out of (the grant funding) as we can.”

Wade, who will oversee the day-to-day implementation of the CHIP grants in the county, said she will provide needed information to interested homeowners at the public hearing, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday in Rom 100 of the Albany-Dougherty Government Center. Information about the meeting initially indicated that the meeting would be held in Room 120 of the Government Center, but Assistant County Administrator Mike McCoy confirmed Monday that the meeting has been moved to the larger Room 100.

“We’re going to talk in detail about the requirements,” Wade said. “Once we determine which applicants are qualified, our goal is to complete repairs to six homes. We’d love to do more, and we hope some of the repairs will only cost in the $20,000 range. But we have to be realistic. You never know what problems you might run into on a home once you start doing repairs.

“This is an excellent opportunity, so we hope we’ll have a good turnout Thursday. We make the grants on a first-come, first-served basis, that being the first ones to complete their application.”

Additional information is available by calling the county business office at (229) 431-2121.