County/City CHIP partnership saves homes

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PORTSMOUTH- Inflation may be tightening the number of homes that can be affected, but the Community Housing impact Preservation program is still serving the residents of Scioto County and the city of Portsmouth.

“It’s like chasing cats at times,” said Scioto County commissioner Bryan Davis. “You’re just trying to get all the pieces together. Our staff does a great job because there’s proof in the pudding. The job’s getting done.

“The goal is to keep [residents] in their homes. If the repair work wasn’t done, the homes would eventually become uninhabitable.”

The commissioners signed off Thursday on an agreement with the city to continue partnering in the program. CHIP allows for low-income homeowners to stay in their homes by offering repairs and renovations. The average dollar amount spent per repair is $50,000. Over the last 10 years, more than $5 million in federal grant dollars have been spent in Scioto County to make home repairs. This money is also providing jobs to local contractors who perform the work on the homes.

“Because of this program, there are literally hundreds of hundreds of houses that have been rehabilitated,” Davis said. “It’s great to see this.”

Inflation has had an impact on the program, however. The costs of materials and labor have increased significantly.

“It’s tripled from what it used to be because of inflation, but it’s still getting done,” Davis said. “We don’t need to add to the problem by not doing programs like this.”

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