BELLEFONTE — At this week’s Centre County Board of Commissioners meeting, the board approved a dozen motions aimed at improving access to more secure and affordable housing options, allocating $1.2 million to affordable housing projects.

Of the 20 adult service items on the agenda, over half of them related to expanding access to housing and housing related services, with the rest pertaining to related administrative matters.

Commissioners renewed five contracts, three with Housing Transitions, one with Centre Safe and a final with Habitat for Humanity, to continue their services through June 30, 2025.

Housing Transitions and Centre Safe both provide critical services, including long-term case management for those transitioning to independent living situations, rental assistance for individuals and families experiencing homelessness and connecting those people with the services that can help them.

The contract with Habitat for Humanity, which allocates federal funding to the Whole Home Repair Program, allows the organization to provide home repair services to eligible homeowners and projects.

According to the commissioners, currently, there are dozens of projects in Centre County at various stages of completion under this program.

Commissioner Amber Concepcion expressed gratitude to Faith Ryan, Deputy Human Services Administrator and Director of the Office of Adult Services for Centre County, for her and her department’s efforts.

Concepcion noted, “these services are a critical part of the safety net” that help people find and maintain housing in Centre County.

The commissioners also approved three addendums. The first two are with Service Access

Management, Inc. (SAM) to provide administrative services for the Emergency Solutions Grant Homeless Prevention Program and the Rental and Mortgage Assistance Program.

The third approves additional funds for the Coordinated Entry Walk-In Center, which pairs people facing housing troubles with appropriate services.

The final group of contracts included approvals of various housing projects to be funded by the

Emergency Rental Assistance Program 2.

The Pennsylvania Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP1), established by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and expanded under the American Rescue Plan Act (ERAP2), was designed to help renters facing financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program provides rental and utility assistance to prevent eviction and utility shut-offs for Pennsylvanians.

ERAP2 includes a provision that reserves the final 25 percent of allocated funds for counties to use in developing affordable rental housing or preventing eviction for low-income families.

Ryan, who is a member of The Housing Task Force, cited the growing need for affordable housing as the key factor in the decision to invest in a development project rather than distributing the funds for eviction prevention or returning them.

Any project pursued by the Housing Task Force must meet specific qualifications and availability standards to be eligible.

ERAP2 funds can be used for predevelopment, acquisition, construction and revitalization of rental housing, provided the units serve households at or below 50% of the area median income.

In 2023, the area median income for a family of four in Centre County was $51,500, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.

“There are a lot of qualifiers, a lot of criteria that have to be met to use this funding, but the first step is to bring it to your approval. Once you approve us to move forward, we will then submit the packets all to the Department of Human Services, they will review, and once they approve, we can move forward with funding the projects,” said Ryan.

The commissioners approved four ERAP2 Affordable Rental Housing Project requests: construction of Old Boalsburg Roads Flat project, erection of a modular home owned by Anchor Mae Investments, support for the rehabilitation of a former personal care facility for the Fairweather Lodge II project by Strawberry Fields and the acquisition of a single-family home for the ACRES Project Pilot Housing Program, which serves autistic adults.

Each project will provide one to four affordable rental units. The hope expressed by Ryan and the commissioners was that renters can move into rental units by the end of September 2025 or, at the latest, early 2026.

Commissioner Steven Dershem, referring specifically to the $300,000 price tag on Anchor Mae Investment’s modular home project, said, “If you look at some of these numbers you realize the cost of development and building is astronomical and it is indicative of what the whole housing market is going through right now,” emphasizing the need to provide comprehensive housing support to low-income county residents.

The four projects total $1,188,049.13 in County funds, but Commissioner Mark Higgins added the county has access to an additional $1 million in ERAP2 funds that can still be disbursed.

“We’re looking for property developers, contractors and property owners at this point,” said Higgins, but noted that for any project to be considered it must be significantly underway administratively speaking. “It needs to be projects where you already have the land, you already have the permits, you already have practically everything except maybe the building build.”

“At the end of the day, we’ll have more affordable homes, more affordable apartments and in the ACRES situation, more affordable living spaces that come with a broad variety of additional services as well,” said Higgins, giving the projects his and the board’s approval.