By Zach DeLoach
City commissioners on Tuesday supported a housing rehabilitation program that would reimburse local nonprofits for performing structural repairs on qualifying homes to build up and maintain Manhattan’s workforce housing stock.
Commissioners in October said they were interested in funding a program like that, and community development director Stephanie Peterson on Tuesday presented the framework city staffers had developed since. Commissioners didn’t vote on implementing the program because they were in a work session, but they will take it up at a future meeting.
The proposed program would allot $100,000 of workforce housing sales tax funds for four repair categories: home rehabilitation or repair (such as replacing a roof or a foundation), manufactured home (such as a mobile home), ADA accessibility improvements and emergency repair. Approved projects wouldn’t be cosmetic or highly specialized but only intended to maintain the structural integrity and viability of Manhattan’s homes.
