Lost housing rehab funds reinstated for Cook County

There was some good news to report at the monthly meeting of the Cook County/Grand Marais Joint Economic Development Authority on Tuesday.

EDA Housing Coordinator Nancy Grabko was pleased to announce that Cook County has been reinstated on a joint Cook/Lake County Small Cities Development Program grant for housing rehabilitation funds. This comes after Cook County was unexpectedly removed from the joint grant application late last year; a major blow to the housing program at the time, and one that forced the EDA to look elsewhere for funding to keep the housing program going.

The EDA was successful in obtaining other funding, about $130,000, but was looking at having to reduce the number of projects undertaken by more than half, from 10 to four.  But in an unexpected and highly unusual move, the funder, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), notified the EDA Tuesday, April 6 that Cook County was reinstated in the joint Lake/Cook County grant, and that the amount was increased from $224,000 to $355,200.  As a result, the housing program in Cook County will now be able to fully fund 10 home rehab projects in the next 15 months.