City makes progress with housing rehab program
A program that's updating some Hillsboro houses is about halfway complete and should be finished by early summer.
It's the city's housing rehab program. For those enrolled in the program, it means new sewer lines, new roofs — anything necessary to bring the house into compliance with city code, according to City Administrator Steve Garrett.
The program is funded through a grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce and Housing. KDOCH awarded the money to Hillsboro in the spring of 2001, Garrett said. That means that the updates made to each house are paid fully by the state — that is, if the homeowner lives in the house. The situation's a little different for a rental home.
Families must meet low-income guidelines to qualify for the program.
But it wasn't until the fall of 2002 that the city was able to start putting that money to use. The city has had a lot of government "hoops" to jump through, he said.
Progress was also slowed, Garrett said, when former city building inspector Kermit Dirksen unexpectedly retired.
This program is not the same as the city's revitalization program, which offers tax abatements to homeowners who improve their property. The rehab program deals only with getting homes "up to code."
Approximately 15 houses are signed up for the program, which is administered by Rose Mary Saunders, an engineer with Reiss and Goodness of Wichita. So far, two houses on North Washington have been completely demolished — they were beyond the city's capacity to bring up to code. Both had been vacant for some time.
The rest of the homes will receive various improvements dealing with everything from a house's roof to its sewer lines to its electrical system. All the houses are located within a specific part of town that goes east from Main to Madison, with its southern border at 2nd Street.
All the work — the construction, the inspection — is done by an independent contractor for the city.
Right now, the city is taking on six more houses. It's a manageable number, Garrett said. Three were started in December, and one is completely done.
The entire rehab project should be completed by early summer, he saidl
