CITY OF CAPE TO DISTRIBUTE HOUSING FUNDS

The city of Cape Girardeau has received more than $400,000 for a neighborhood rehabilitation project, and it needs property owners to sign up to help spend it.

The funding will be used to renovate substandard housing in the Jefferson-Shawnee Parkway neighborhood, said Steve Williams, the city's housing assistance coordinator.

"It comes down to three things: decent, safe and sanitary," he said.

The target area is bounded by Sprigg Street on the west, the Shawnee Parkway (Highway 74) on the south, Fountain Street on east and Jefferson Avenue on the north.

The grant is available to help low to moderate-income families.

Those interested in applying for the funding, made available through a Community Development Block Grant, can attend a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday in the city council chambers at Cape Girardeau City Hall or apply in person at the Division of Planning Services office, also at city hall.

The $446,500 grant includes $384,000 for housing rehabilitation; $56,700 for lead abatement in homes occupied by women of childbearing age and/or young children; $5,000 for assisting residents with down payments or closing costs on home purchases in the target area; and $600 for support services, which includes a series of six workshops, including a mandatory Nov. 3 workshop on home maintenance.

The city will kick in $92,594 in in-kind funds for improvements to water and sewer lines, streets, sidewalks and curbs and gutters in the target area.

If families don't meet the income guidelines, they may be able to do part of the work themselves to receive funding, Williams said.

The program is aimed at upgrading housing and neighborhood stabilization, Williams said, and rehabbing one neighborhood helps maintain property values all over the city.

"This funding comes in and does the home, and not only are you helping the structure, but you're helping the individual," said Ken Eftink, the city's planning coordinator.

Since 1982, the city of Cape Girardeau has received $3.8 million in Community Development Block Grant funding for neighborhood rehabilitation.

The funding was used to upgrade 148 homes and 17 streets.

A project to upgrade the Locust-Maple neighborhood, funded in 1994 and again in 1995, is still under way. Eight or nine homes out of the 36 funded are still slated for renovations, Williams said.

Competition for the grant funds is fierce, said Kent Bratton, the city planner.

For that reason, the city concentrates on small neighborhoods with high concentrations of low-income families and substandard housing.

"Obviously, you're looking at the areas that are the most deteriorated," Bratton said.

Williams said 94 percent of households in the Jefferson-Shawnee Parkway neighborhood meet the income guideline, and 94 percent of the housing is substandard.

"You get some towns that apply for these grants, and the whole town is low- to moderate-income," he said. "Our competition is very great."

The grant will fund improvements to 31 homes in the neighborhood. Funding from the East Missouri Action Agency and the Salvation Army may be available to help "stretch" the grant funding, Williams said.

The grants will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, he said, and owner-occupied homes will be renovated first.