CAIRO GETS $555,320 IN GRANT; PAINT TO BE REMOVED FROM HOUSING PROJECT

CAIRO, Ill. -- A $555,320 federal housing grant will be used to remove lead paint from McBride Place, a 194-unit housing project in downtown Cairo.

"These funds are vital in our efforts to provide quality housing in our area," said U.S. Rep. Glenn Poshard, D-Carterville, Ill., who announced the grants recently. "This is an important investment in the standard of living for people who reside in federal housing units and for our communities in general."

Federal housing units in a dozen Southern Illinois locations will receive grants totaling $8.7 million for various improvements. The grants are from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, under its Comprehensive Improvement Assistant Program.

"These funds will be used to correct health and safety conditions in the housing units," said Poshard. In Union and Pulaski counties, the funds will be used to improve kitchens, bathrooms and other areas inside the housing units.

"We apply each year for the improvement grants," said James Wilson, director of the Alexander County Housing Authority and mayor of Cairo. "This year's funds will be used to remove lead-base paint from McBride Place apartments."

Wilson said the lead problem is something that came up recently.

"We hadn't counted on this expense in our five-year planning," he said. The lead problem showed up in testing, both at McBride, and the 158-unit Elmwood Place in uptown Cairo.

"We'll concentrate on the work at McBride first," said Wilson. "The work will have to be bid out, so it'll be awhile before it gets under way."

Wilson added that in the case at McBride, door frames will have to be removed and replaced.

"We're a year ahead of most folks on this problem," he said. "We discovered the problems and are getting into it this year. A lot of federal housing units will be having the same problems once they finish testing."

Wilson estimated that the costs for removing and replacing the doorways will be about $1,000 each, and each apartment has two doorways. During past years, the HUD funds have been used for a number of improvements at Cairo.

"We've used the monies for bathroom renovations, new stoves and water heaters, and will be using some future funds for roof work," said Wilson.

The Pulaski County Housing Authority will receive $444,185.

"We'll be doing a lot of work on the dwellings at Mound City," said Jeanette Jones, director of the housing authority. "We'll be putting in some new windows, putting hoods over some cook stoves, doing some work in some bathrooms."

Jones added that some outside work would be done.

"We'll be doing some work on sidewalks," she said.

Union County will receive $833,650, for improvements to housing at Anna. Union County has a total of 346 housing units, 90 of them in Anna.

Others in Southern Illinois that will receive HUD funding and the amounts are: city of Marion, $93,225; Jackson County, $944,805; Marion County, $126,000; Massac County, $403,850; Perry County, $984,100 (two different grants); Randolph County, $134,000; Saline County, $2,963,312; and Williamson County, $1,227,600.