Housing in Rome,
Rockmart improved
with stimulus funds
Mar 27, 2009 | 648 views | 1 
| 3 
| 
| 
| 3 | |
Renovations totaling $1,232,000 on approximately 100 apartment units at Park Homes on Reservoir Street will include windows, doors and frames, dryer hook-ups, porch repairs, columns and rails.
A total of $595,097 will be used on eight Avenue B apartments for site improvements (drainage, landscaping and parking) and dwelling structures (windows, doors, exterior brick, drywall, painting, flooring and cabinets).
The Westview Apartments on Forrest Court in Rockmart will receive ventilation, dryer hook-ups, columns and rails totaling $594,000. There are approximately 45 units in Westview.
The remainder will be used for service fees, such as for architects and engineers.
The housing authority will purchase the foreclosed Avenue B apartments with Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds. The refurbished apartments will replace eight of the units in the Charles Hight Homes property across from Floyd Medical Center that are scheduled to be demolished.
The funds for the three renovation projects come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act via the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Sandra Hudson, executive director of the housing authority, said she had to submit an application including the authority’s five-year plan to HUD to receive the money. HUD stipulates that all materials used in renovation projects have to be purchased in the U.S., Hudson said.
The next step is for architects to submit plans for the authority’s approval. Hudson will then advertise for bids from contractors.
Postings are not edited and are the responsibility of the author. You agree not to post comments that are abusive, threatening or obscene. Postings may be removed at our discretion.
And the projected cost is $74,387 each for "eight Avenue B apartments for site improvements (drainage, landscaping and parking) and dwelling structures (windows, doors, exterior brick, drywall, painting, flooring and cabinets)". ????? Many questions need to be asked about this expense. Start with how much does it cost for a Habitat for Humanity house?
Then there's "Westview Apartments on Forrest Court in Rockmart will receive ventilation, dryer hook-ups, columns and rails totaling $594,000. There are approximately 45 units in Westview." That's $13,200 for each apartment, for what doesn't appear to be significant work.
Note the requirement that all materials have to be made in the US; that's good. How about all the labor has to be provided by US citizens?
And how about a group of skilled carpenters who are unemployed because of the economy being paid to train housing project residents to do some of this work? Help the unemployed skilled labor, and help unemployed, untrained residents to learn skills that could lift them out of poverty? Win-win situation.