Housing commission gives preliminary support to United Way grant backing mobile-home health-and-safety repairs

The Community Action Agency asked the Ottawa County Housing Commission for a letter of support for a United Way community impact grant to address major health-and-safety needs in mobile homes.

Jennifer (Community Action Agency representative) told the commission the agency plans to apply for $300,000 over three years to repair mobile homes so they can later be weatherized, and that the application was due the following day.

"The grant request is for $300,000. It's a 3 year grant," Jennifer said. She described the work as focused on health-and-safety repairs — replacing failing roofs and addressing major plumbing and structural problems — with the goal of allowing households to remain safely in place and then receive weatherization services.

Barb (grant coordinator) described the agency's eligibility framework and outcomes for the United Way application, including follow-up contact points to track stability and financial-goal progress at six and 12 months. She clarified the population served by the proposed program as the ALICE cohort ("asset limited, income constrained, employed"), and said the CAA does not currently have matching dollars identified for the request.

The CAA said the grant would place a per-home cap on improvements of $15,000. Staff explained the program would mirror some Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) loan-language and administrative features, including placing a lien on assisted homes and disallowing repeated weatherization credits at the same address; the exact program policies will be developed if the grant is awarded.

Commissioners and staff discussed contractor capacity and procurement: CAA staff said the county’s procurement and vetting process limits the pool of contractors (two contractors often perform mobile-home roofing work for the program), and that payment timing and paperwork can discourage participation. Barb said the program already has a contractor network but that capacity limits the number of homes the agency can serve without additional contractors.

With the deadline imminent, the commission agreed to provide a letter of support pending a brief review. A motion for preliminary approval of a letter of support for the United Way grant, pending final review, was made and seconded; the chair called the question and the motion was approved by voice vote. Commissioners asked the agency to provide the grant details and United Way fine print for final sign-off; staff said they will try to turn the letter around the next day to meet United Way’s deadline.

The CAA noted other program details: the agency expects to spend roughly $100,000 per year if funded at the $300,000 level, would cap per-home assistance at $15,000, and estimated last year’s average mobile-home safety repair cost at roughly $7,000–$8,000 per home. Staff also emphasized the program’s longer-term goals, including building relationships with mobile-home park managers and exploring inspection requirements for resale or purchase that are not currently mandated by Michigan law.

Votes at a glance: - Motion: "Letter of support for the United Way grama from CAA pending review." Mover: not specified. Second: not specified. Vote: approved by voice vote. Deadline noted: United Way application due the following evening at 10 p.m.