BUTLER TWP — The most recent owner-occupied housing rehabilitation program by the Housing Authority of Butler County will see about $500,000 spent on qualifying homes in the Lyndora area.

Martha Brown, the authority's director of grant management and resident services, said low-income homeowners who need repairs to bring their homes up to code or increase efficiency can apply for the program.

But Brown stressed that applicants must live in the home for which they are applying for repairs. She added that the home must be covered by insurance and the mortgage and all utilities must be paid and up to date.

Each applicant must meet income guidelines according to their family size as well.

While the authority has in the past conducted rehab programs in Summit, Center, Oakland and Jefferson townships and the Zelienople area, the Lyndora project is different because there is no per-home cap.

Brown said in past projects, there was a maximum amount of grant money that could be spent on each home. For Lyndora, there is no limit regarding the amount spent on individual homes.

The Lyndora project is funded through a grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development and a grant match from the county commissioners.

Brown explained that if an applicant meets the initial guidelines, an inspector comes to the home and completes a DCED checklist of items that are required to bring a home up to municipality's building code standards.

She said hot water tanks, roofs, porches, railings, foundations, broken or inefficient windows, gutters and downspouts, bathroom ventilation, furnaces and interior doors are some items on the checklist.

Sometimes, a borough or township code enforcement official will alert the housing authority that a particular home is in disrepair.

The housing authority will then mail an application to that home.

“We work together with the municipalities,” Brown said.

Regarding contractors, Brown said the authority mails proposal packets to a list of contractors in her database.

Rehab projects are also listed on the authority's website and once per year the authority puts out an alert for new contractors by advertising in the Butler Eagle and posting on their website and social media.

All contractors must be licensed, have insurance and be lead certified, Brown said. The contractors who have worked for the authority's rehab projects know they cannot drag their feet in completing a home's repairs.

“They are put on a time frame that the project must be completed,” Brown said. “If they're busy, they won't put in a proposal because they know they only have so much time.”

She said the authority advertises for contractors once per year in the Butler Eagle, on the authority website and on social media.

Brown said there is already a waiting list for the Lyndora project. She has about 20 homes on the list to be evaluated by inspectors.

But Brown said those in any county municipality who are in need of home repairs and cannot afford the cost should contact the authority and get on the list.

That, Brown said, will show that a particular municipality has a need for repairs.

“I encourage anybody, even if we don't have funding for your area, to call in,” Brown said. “That will show that the Housing Authority has a need, because maybe we're focusing on the wrong areas.”

She said the larger the waiting list, the better the chance of getting state funding for homeowner-occupied rehabilitation.

Janine Kennedy, the county Community Action director, said her office will handle the finance end of the homeowner-occupied rehabilitation program.

She said the area of the Lyndora rehabilitation program includes all of Lyndora and up Whitestown Road to South Duffy Road, then left onto South Duffy, left into Highfield, and back down to Lyndora.

Brown said homeowners are always thrilled with the repairs done in the rehab projects.

“Everyone is pretty ecstatic, because the work that we do is something they can't really afford on their own,” she said.