FOUNTAIN VALLEY : City OKs Dispensing of Block Grant Funds

The City Council on Tuesday approved the distribution of nearly $660,000 for next fiscal year’s Community Development Block Grant money.

The money will be used to rehabilitate homes, revitalize neighborhoods and help local organizations.

The city’s block grant money for 1993-94 is expected to be $658,206, which includes $357,000 in new federal funding, said Lauren Sacco, community development block grant coordinator for the city.

Sacco said the city has projected that $77,839 from this year’s funding will be carried into the next fiscal year.

Sacco said the total block grant money includes $223,367 the city received from selling land to the developer of the Heil Park development, the city’s first low-cost condominium project.

Programs targeted for funding include $89,006 for housing rehabilitation, in which rebates, deferred loans and low-interest loans are offered to low- and moderate-income families; and $57,517 to provide grants to single-family homeowners to repair their properties.

A total of $37,333 will also be offered in grants and deferred loans to low- and moderate-income mobile-home owners to make improvements.

The local Boys & Girls Club will receive $74,150 for the construction of its new Fountain Valley Club, Sacco said.

Sacco said $53,550 has been set aside for nonprofit community organizations and agencies. The council will hold a public hearing in late June or early July to distribute the money, she said.

Sacco said the city will receive 7% more in block grant money next year than it received this year.

“It’s great because it enables us to help a few more people,” Sacco said, adding that there is a waiting list for residents who need financial assistance to rehabilitate their homes.