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GROW program now accepting applications to bring more housing to Adams County

GROW program now accepting applications to bring more housing to Adams County April 18, 2024

Quincy, Ill. (KHQA) — The GROW program is hoping to address the housing shortage in Adams County.

The Great River Economic Development Foundation, along with Adams County, is now accepting applications for the Growing Residential Opportunities County-Wide (GROW) program.

The program will offer a $20,000 incentive per unit to developers looking to construct new residential units on a vacant lot.

GREDF President Kyle Moore says that developers have already shown interest in the program before applications opened on April 16.

“There’s been a lot of interest from local developers, the Home Builders Association, and individuals who might have a property that may not have been affordable to develop with the recent rise in building cost and the interest rate increase that we’ve seen,” said Moore.

GREDF will be hosting two seminars to give more information on the program.

One training session will be on April 23rd at 4:00 p.m. at the Oakley-Lindsay Center, as well as a session over Zoom on May 1st at 12:00 p.m., which will be posted to GREDF’s website.

To apply for the program, click here.

Local groups come together to tackle childcare shortage

Local groups come together to tackle childcare shortage April 18, 2024

QUINCY (WGEM) – The Community Foundation Serving West Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri is bringing a variety of organizations together to create a new group to support childcare facilities and find ways to solve the lack of childcare in the area.

Community Foundation CEO Catherine Meckes said partners included in the newly formed group that met Monday are the Great River Economic Development Foundation (GREDF), the West Central Childcare Connection, and other local organizations and leaders.

Meckes said group members want to ensure there is high-quality care for every child in the area, but first, they want to address the issues childcare providers face.

“What we’re focused on is that workforce piece of childcare. We know that there are just not enough qualified workers to provide the care that our community needs. There’s a deficit in the number of slots that we have. So how can we work to help support the workers we have now and help encourage more folks to come into the field,” Meckes said.

Meckes said they are looking at local colleges like John Wood and their childcare program. They want to find ways to expand the program to get more people into the pipeline for childcare work.

Since they are a newly formed group, Meckes said they are still discussing specific ideas and solutions. She said they also want to find ways to support childcare facilities.

Recently they provided gift cards for childcare facilities to purchase food and food-related items.

At-home childcare provider Holly Elsie received $450 in gift cards from the Community Foundation childcare group. She said it helps free up the budget. She said she has used some of the money to purchase items for the children. Elsie said the money also gives her the ability to also do some activities they previously might not have been able to do. She said one activity she’s thinking about is family picnics, where the parents of the kids can join them.

Elsie said many parents utilize home daycare providers like hers, but there’s always a struggle for them to find a facility with open slots.

“The challenges that we can face are not having the availability to take on more children because we can only have certain, smaller amounts with just having yourself or possibly maybe a staff member or two. So that’s always a hard thing to have to tell parents that, we don’t have the availability for the children,” Elsie said.

Elsie said her facility can take eight children.

She said she’s glad to have received the money and a new group is working to support childcare in the area.

Copyright 2024 WGEM. All rights reserved. By Ryan Hill Published: Apr. 18, 2024 at 5:46 AM CDT
https://www.wgem.com/2024/04/18/local-groups-come-together-tackle-childcare-shortage/

 

The Adams County GROW Program is now accepting applications!

The Adams County GROW Program is now accepting applications! April 12, 2024

How did we get here?

In 2023, the Great River Economic Development Foundation conducted a “Comprehensive Housing Needs Assessment for Adams County”. This study outlined the desperate need for single-family houses and affordable housing options. 

In response to this study, the Adams County Board allocated $1 million of the ARPA funds to develop the GROW, or Growing Residential Opportunities County-Wide Program, to address this need. The program focuses on developers either taking abandoned houses or empty lots and turning them into affordable housing.

With the news that the Adams County Board approved the timeline, and specific details regarding the Adams County GROW Program, you might be asking yourself, what is next? We will dive into program details below.

Program Details

To be eligible for the GROW Program, a project/development must be located within Adams County. The project may include the construction of a new residential unit(s) on a vacant lot, including a single-family residence, duplex, condos, townhouses, cluster homes, and/or apartment complex. In addition, development of a currently uninhabitable structure or partially uninhabited structure will be accepted. The developer must obtain the required permits and complete the approved scope of work within 12 months of the approval of an application to the GROW Program. Longer timelines may be considered based on application. Projects completed after December 31, 2026, will not be eligible.

The program will offer a $20,000 non-repayment loan per unit to developers. The GROW Program incentive cannot exceed 50% of the cost of the project or $100,000, whichever is less. The forgivable loan period will be five years before the date of project completion with an approved certificate of occupancy.  

The GROW Program Review Committee will include 7 (seven) representatives of the Great River Economic Development Foundation or other community members. The committee will review applications to assure proposals meet the goals/objectives of the GROW Program and to verify the application has sufficient financial resources to complete the project. More specifically, the scoring criteria used to evaluate the proposals will include project scope, private investment vs county investment, number of units, location of project, project timeline, and addressing housing need projections outlined in the “Comprehensive Housing Needs Assessment for Adams County”. The committee will submit recommendations to the Adams County Board for final approval and funding authorization.

Upon approval of the project, the owner must obtain all required permits. Mandatory inspections must be allowed during the construction process, as required by code in the jurisdiction of the project. The property owner will also be required to submit an annual inspection of the property on or around the annual anniversary of project completion for a period of five years. The inspection of the property must show compliance with all applicable codes and ordinances within that property’s jurisdiction

Timeline

For a deeper dive into the details of the program, and information needed to apply for the program, please visit the GREDF website.

There will be two training sessions:

  • The first training will be on April 23rd in the Oakley-Lindsay Center at 4 p.m.
  • The second training will be held on May 1st at 12 p.m. on Zoom. If you are interested in obtaining the Zoom link, please email Madison Badgley.

Applications are due to GREDF by 4 p.m. on June 18th. Applications can be sent via email to gredf@gredf.org; dropped off to the GREDF office, or sent via mail.