LOCK HAVEN — The Clinton County Board of Commissioners directed its planning department to apply for over $300,000 worth of PHARE Grant funds.

The funds will be applied for through the 2023-2024 round through the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. The total amount the county is looking to receive is $312,300 which would be monitored through an agreement with the Clinton County Housing Coalition’s program management and Clinton County Housing Authority for finance accounting management.

The board heard from Jeff Rich, executive director of the authority, and Jackie Condor, northern tier regional manager on Monday during its work session about what the funds would be used for.

Rich said the grant funds, if awarded, would assist the authority and coalition’s efforts to create the Hope Mitchell House — a facility located along Bellefonte Avenue in Lock Haven which would feature six one-bedroom units.

At the time, Rich said five of the units would be permanent supportive housing — the first of its kind in the county.

Condor provided an overview of this new program – the Permanent Supportive Housing Program.

Condor noted, although the program would be new to the county, she and other authority staff have worked with other agencies that have similar programs.

“It is permanent housing in addition to supportive services to households with at least one adult household member living with a disability,” Condor said.

She noted the individual who qualifies would have to sign a lease or something similar and it would be treated like a normal housing situation.

Condor said this program would provide not only permanent housing but also a more intensive support services system for those in need.

“The truth of the matter is that some households do not succeed in rapid rehousing programs because they require more supportive services and wrap around services that we cannot provide with our other programs,” she said.

The program, Condor said, would assist in preventing some households from finding themselves in crisis again.

Rich noted that at least 4 to 8 households often qualify for this program each month.

In terms of funding for the project, Rich said the authority already received $818,425 in a Rural Housing grant. $750,000 of that is earmarked for rehabilitation of the facility. The remainder would be put towards operating expenses for three years.

Currently, the total cost for the project is $1.3 million. However, Rich said he is in talks with the project’s architect to cut that down.

The project has also received a $200,000 commitment from the housing authority and the Clinton County Housing Coalition is looking to pull together $100,000 through future grant opportunities.

In other business the commissioners:

— Approved subrecipient agreements for 2022 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds effective Aug. 2 through Aug. 1, 2027 that include: Citizens Hose of South Renovo ($50,000); Renovo Borough Water Authority ($21,771); and Renovo Borough ($123,924).

— Approved a subrecipient monitoring agreement between the county and STEP, Inc. effective Nov. 2 to Oct. 31, 2025 for providing services using 2022/2023 PHARE Grant funding of $300,000 from the PA Housing Finance Agency.