Village Creates Plan to Help Low-Income, At-Risk Residents

The village of Bolingbrook has laid out a series of goals designed to create safe and affordable housing for lower-income families in targeted areas of the village, according to a report released last month.

Beginning Oct. 1, the village will use $343,748 in Community Development Block Grants, issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to fund a variety of projects. 

The village will use the money to assist families in specific areas that have been identified as low-income or unsafe areas, most of which are concentrated on the east side of town.

The goals were outlined in the village's annual Action Plan, a five-year plan that should affect nearly 2,000 Bolingbrook residents who currently live in unsuitable or unsafe housing.

"(The report) ensures continuity for attaining long-standing housing and community development goals and objectives, which have been rigorously followed over time," the report stated.

The grant program, established in 1974, provides cities with funds to assist in achieving HUD's national objectives — benefiting low- and moderate-income persons, preventing or eliminating slums and meeting community-specific development needs.

The village has participated in the grant program since 2000. This year is the first in which the village is required to lay out a five-year plan, said Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar.

Claar said the village typically receives $325,000 to $350,000 each year from HUD. He said the money is used out on a discretionary basis, with most of the money going to help those in need.

"There are sewage systems that are brought to our attention, roofing that needs to be repaired," he said. "If (the residents) meet the requirements and there is sufficient funding, we proceed to help them."

Within the report, Claar and the village's Board of Trustees identified six high-priority needs for Bolingbrook.

Among them are maintaining decent housing for low-income, elderly and disabled residents; preventing foreclosures by providing counseling to those at risk; maximizing home ownership in single-family neighborhoods and ensuring that housing rentals are assets, not necessities; assisting the homeless by providing short-term housing assistance; improving neighborhood sidewalks and streetlights; and adding a police officer in high-crime areas.

The village's goals are to reduce the amount of foreclosures by 20 percent, reduce poverty numbers by 10 percent and reduce crime by adding a bilingual police officer in three high-crime neighborhoods — the Winston Woods, Beaconridge and Pine Meadows/Fernwood subdivisions

The Bolingbrook police and fire departments will be in charge of identifying prospective eligible households for rehab.

For more information on the grant program or its initiatives, a copy of the report can be obtained at the Community Development Department, DuPage Township Offices or the Fountaindale Public Library.