SCDA awarded $478,400 grant for sewer lift station near Bypass

The Stephens County Development Authority has been awarded a $478,400 grant through Georgia’s newly-created Rural Workforce Housing Initiative. The Stephens County grant is one of five RWHI grants, totaling nearly $8.4 million, that were announced last week.

The grant awarded to Stephens County is earmarked for work on the sanitary sewer lift station near the Toccoa Bypass and Mize Road to support the community’s efforts to improve workforce housing availability in the county, said SCDA Chairman Brian Akin.

The Rural Workforce Housing Initiative was created under the OneGeorgia Authority to provide funding to assist rural communities with housing development to address a shortage of housing stock that impacts the workforce economy.  OneGeorgia Authority falls under the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. 

According to Rural Workforce Housing Initiative officials, “Grants are to provide funding for activities that result in housing that meets the needs of working families and others who may consider relocating to a community for employment reasons. Grantees will be expected to demonstrate transformational change in workforce housing.”

Notice of the grant was announced on May 3 this year by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. Infrastructure grants under the initiative are limited to no more than $2,500,000 per application and development. Grant applications for project construction financing were limited to no more than $1,000,000 per applicant and development. 

Although the grant accepted applications for either construction funding for housing projects, or infrastructure funding to support housing projects, all five awards in this initial round were awarded to infrastructure projects.

In addition to other eligibility requirements for the grant funding, the Initiative required that proposed projects be able to demonstrate community buy-in for the project – and for the overall goal of increasing access to affordable housing for workers – by way of other funding through local governmental or organizational sources. 

Stephens County’s application fulfilled that requirement, with the City of Toccoa Commission and the Stephens County Board of Commissioners each having agreed to provide $125,000 toward completion of the sewer infrastructure project that will serve the currently-proposed PUD development near the Mize Road/Bypass interchange, as well as future developments in the vicinity. This partnership with the city and county was likely a contributing factor to the local project being chosen as one of the five grant recipients in this round of funding, said Akin.

As reported last week by WNEG News, the proposed Planned Unit Development project off the Bypass and Highways 16 is estimated to provide multi-family housing with up to 80 to 120 two- and three-bedroom units and the possibility of 150 single-family residential homes, as well as commercial developments such as a grocery/market/general store, restaurants and a hotel. The completion of the infrastructure will support not only the workforce housing included in the Planned Unit Development, but the commercial components of the development, Akin pointed out. 

This inaugural round of grant funding through the Initiative will support the creation of more than 500 housing units in single and multi-family developments in the five awarded communities, according to officials.

The Georgia General Assembly, as part of the approval of the Fiscal Year 2023 state budget, set aside $35.7 million to provide funding for the Rural Workforce Housing Initiative grants. The granting of a portion of these funds to Stephens County highlights the importance of the work the SCDA does to support the community, Akin said. 

According to grant documentation, compliance with OneGeorgia’s priority on affordable housing stipulates that grant recipients must show that resulting cost savings on the grant-funded project must contribute to the affordability of the per-unit purchase price or rent extended to families who ultimately benefit from the activity.

Under OneGeorgia objectives, developments supported by the grants must result in either for-sale, single-family, owner-occupied housing with a sale price of no more than $290,000 and no less than $125,000, or rental housing properties with at least two bathrooms, essential services including acceptable broadband services and rental rates that are affordable to households earning up to 100% of Area Median Income, where affordable is defined as consuming no more than 30% of the average household income.

According to grant documentation, funds must be expended within the timeframe specified in the grant/loan award documentation, which is generally two years from the date of the award. 

There will be additional grants awarded in December 2023, April 2024, and June 2024.