The Antis Township supervisors Thursday approved a plan to spend its $97,000 cut of Community Development Block Grant money for Fiscal Year 2025 on housing rehabilitation, following the recommendation of Trina Illig, Blair County’s CDBG coordinator.

The township’s CDBG allocation is actually $119,000, but Blair County takes 18% for administering the program, with the township responsible only for deciding how to spend the money, according to Illig.

There are four township families on a housing rehab waiting list, there are no other pending CDBG projects needing to be funded and there were no comments at a hearing on the program, Illig told the supervisors last month.

Given that housing rehabilitation jobs average $65,000 to $75,000 per unit, the 2025 funding is likely good for one project, Illig said.

The township could save the rest to go toward some other project next year, find some smaller project to do or mix the excess funding with leftover money from previous years.

The 2025 money would need to be spent and the project closed out within four years, although municipal recipients can ask for time extensions.

The rehab jobs would need to comply with federal Department of Housing and Urban Development standards, Illig said.

That means all significant deficiencies in a chosen house need to be taken care of. If someone wants a roof and there is also a sewer issue, both need to be fixed, she said.

CDBG projects are generally required to help low-to-moderate-income people.