South West Illinois News

Residents of Illinois’ 117th District will receive more than $2.8 million in funding through the Community Development Block Grant, Rep. Dave Severin (R-Benton) announced recently.

“DCEO (Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity) has informed me that they will be awarding several communities in our district with block grants from the Housing Rehabilitation program,” Severin said in a press release. “These investments are designed to rehabilitate homes in designated areas of a community or help individual homeowners with small repairs.”

The seven communities in the 117th District that will receive the funding are Benton, Cambria and Sesser, which will get $450,000 each; Spillertown, which will receive $434,070; Creal Springs, which will get $400,140; Marion, which will receive $361,530; and Freeman Spur, which will get 301,790. A total of 19 communities in lllinois are to receive a total of $7.23 million from the federal program.

The program is run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and locally administered. It is designed to assist moderate- to low-income households and allows for homes to be improved, rehabilitated and retrofitted. In addition to helping individual homes, the block grant helps communities become more affordable.

The program has been operating since 1974.