Habitat for Humanity awarded nearly $709,000 in Boone County ARPA funds
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Boone County Commissioner has awarded Habitat for Humanity $708,500 for its Boone Prairie Village Subdivision project.
Habit for Humanity was one of 27 applicants who were awarded funds, according to a Tuesday announcement by the county from the American Rescue Plan Act.
The organization and the Boone County Commissioner gathered on Wednesday at the Boone Prairie Village Subdivision project site to celebrate the money that was awarded.
The subdivision project aims to provide affordable housing for Boone County residents, according to a Wednesday press release from Habitat for Humanity. The project is split into five development phases and the ARPA funding will help complete Phase 2 infrastructure, which will cost approximately $1.5 million.
The infrastructure includes sewers, excavation work, engineering roads and utilities. The organization said in the press release that phase 2 should be finished in 18 months.
"Affordable housing is a huge need in Columbia and Boone County in general, so we're really excited to be part of the solution to this problem," Ashley Switzer, director of community outreach, said.
According to the organization, the additional funding will go toward home construction. It is building homes on the lots from Phase 1 infrastructure, which finished in 2021.
Habitat for Humanity is a global nonprofit organization that works to provide a way for families to own their own homes. It sells homes at low or below cost and provides a 0% interest rate.
"These families help each other build their homes. They help each other move in, and then they have a community and a support system of all these folks that they've joined together with," Switzer said.
The subdivision is split into five phases. Each phase will build approximately 30 houses with a total of 143 planned, according to the release.
The money comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, passed in 2021 as a stimulus package during the COVID-19 pandemic. Boone County was awarded $15 million from the U.S. government.
The Boone County Commission began reviewing ARPA applications in April. The deadline to file applications was March 31. The Commission said in April that it received more than 100 applications for funding totaling over $80 million in requests, which exceeded expectations.
Boone County Commissioner Kip Kendrick told ABC 17 News on Tuesday that the commission did not have any stipulations for selecting applications other than those already laid out by the U.S Treasury and American Rescue Plan statute.
Entities that received the most ARPA money from the county include the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture at $1.5 million, In2Action with $1.2 million, while Socket LLC, Love Columbia and The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri each received $1 million.
