Penn Township and the Butler County Housing & Redevelopment Authority have started reaching out to homeowners to let them know grant funding is available to homeowners who need financial help to fix up their home.

The “Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation” program is available to eligible homeowners in parts of Butler County. Penn Township is one of six areas in the county where grant funding is currently available for the program, according to the Housing Authority’s website.

“It is a program to bring homes for low-to-moderate income residents up to higher quality standards, and to address certain needs that may need to be completed,” said Martha Brown of the Housing Authority.

The Housing Authority and Penn Township are trying to get the word out now, as they have nearly worked their way through their existing waiting lists.

“Penn Township is the one place right now where we have more funding than we have people waiting,” Brown said. “At the current time for Penn Township, we could serve people right away as long as they meet the eligibility.”

The funding is only available to those who both own and are currently occupying the homes they intend to rehabilitate. All applicants for the program are screened to make sure they meet certain guidelines.

One of these guidelines is the home must be on a permanent foundation, meaning mobile homes are ineligible.

Once an applicant is approved, the Housing Authority determines the scope of the work needed to rehabilitate the home before putting the project out to bid and finding a contractor. The Housing Authority pays the contractor for the work and is reimbursed by Butler County.

The funding for the Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation program comes from Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development, which distributes it to each county. The county then disperses the funding to its municipalities. Brown estimates there is about $150,000 worth of OOR funding available for Penn Township.