San Juan County taking applications for low income housing funds

San Juan County will award grants and loans totaling up to $30,000 this year for projects that will help make housing available to very low income county residents. The program, created by the state legislature in 2002, is funded by a surcharge on each document recorded by the auditor’s office.

The funds may be used for building, operating or maintaining projects which serve families or individuals earning less than 50 percent of the area’s median income (a maximum of $32,500 for a family of four).

The funds are available to both non-profits and developers, either as grants or loans for eligible projects located in San Juan County. Funding is not available for individuals purchasing or rehabbing their own homes.

State law requires that at least 90 percent of the available funds be used for acquisition, construction or rehabilitation of housing developments, or units in housing developments, that are affordable to very low-income persons.

San Juan County gives 5 percent of funds collected to the Town of Friday Harbor and 5 percent is set aside as a reserve. The funds are administered by the San Juan County Housing Bank Commission.

The deadline for application this year is March 1. An application form can be downloaded as a printable PDF file from the county website at: http://www.sanjuanco.com/docs/news/HousingBankProjectApplication09.pdf

More information about this program contact Angie Lausch, Affordable Housing Coordinator, San Juan County Health and Community Services at 370-7526 or angelal@sanjuanco.com.

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