BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

CANTON -- St. Lawrence County will receive over $600,000 to rehabilitate homes after the Development Authority of the North Country awarded the funds to the Community Development Block Grant program.

Legislators signed off on the contract during the full board meeting on March 4.

The funds will establish round five of the Countywide Housing Rehabilitation Program, officials say.

The total award of $615,000 will cover $505,200 to provide low to moderate income households with housing rehabilitation assistance.

Of the remaining funds, $79,050 will be used for program delivery purposes, $30,750 will be used for administrative purposes with the county retaining $5,000 for its role in grant administration, officials say.

"These funds will be used to provide housing rehabilitation assistance and lead hazard control work to approximately 12 eligible, income-qualified households in communities across the county," officials say.

The county conducted a Request for Statements of Interest (RSOI) in 2021 to select a sub-recipient for future Community Development Programs and as a result of the RSOI process, the county selected DANC as the sub-recipient for the funds for it's community development program.

The new round of funding builds on previous efforts by the county to rehabilitate homes for low-income families, including a $1 million lead-paint abatement program that assisted 23 housing units.

Initially awarded $1 million in 2018, county officials were able to put the program into effect in 2019 after identifying the properties eligible for abatement work.

Officials say the program delivery method and standard operating procedures were based upon many years of experience running Community Development Block Grant-funded housing rehabilitation programs.

Partners in the program included the St. Lawrence County Planning Office (SLCPO), St. Lawrence County Public Health Department (SLCPHD) and the North Country Housing Council (NCHC).

Primary target areas in the county included the village of Gouverneur and Massena and the City of Ogdensburg, which have population centers that were identified as target areas “due to concentrations of children with elevated blood lead levels (EBLL) being monitored by SLCPHD on its State-mandated Lead Poisoning Prevention caseload.”

In total, the homes that were part of the program included four pregnant women, 35 children under six, 25 children between the ages of six and 17-years-old and three visiting children under six-years-old.

Two visiting children under six and 17 of the resident children under six had EBLL, officials say.

Eight units were located in Ogdensburg, while two more were in Gouverneur and one in Massena. The remaining properties were distributed throughout the county, officials say.

Of the properties included, 17 of 23 were built before 1920, while five were built between 1920 and 1945 and one was built between 1946 and 1979.

A total of seven lead abatement contractor trainings were conducted, with 67 individuals in total in attendance.