THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 27, 1996 TAG: 9606270360
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 35 lines
A state grant for homes with plumbing problems is no longer in jeopardy, because city officials have designated an agency to manage it.
The city has asked the Southeastern Tidewater Opportunity Project - a nonprofit, anti-poverty agency - to administer the indoor-plumbing grant money that Suffolk received late last year.
STOP has managed the program in the city of Franklin and in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties for the past few years, and will manage Suffolk's program at no cost.
Final approval of the selection now goes to the Virginia Housing and Community Development agency.
``They have the experience and the resources already in place for the program,'' said Cindy Rohlf, assistant to the city manager. ``They could move quickly and, hopefully, be able to spend the money.''
The city was having trouble selecting an agency to manage the program after the Suffolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority decided June 20 that it could not administer the $118,000 that Suffolk received this year.
For the past two years, the Portsmouth Community Development Group has administered the program for Suffolk's housing authority. City housing officials had said they could not meet the July 31 state deadline of forming a plan and signing up residents to receive the funds.
STOP Executive Director Edith R. Jones said her organization will have no problem getting the program up and running before the end of next month.
Rohlf said most of the money will probably be spent in the city's Huntersville section - which is along Town Point Road near the Chesapeake and Suffolk border - where much of the indoor-plumbing funding has been placed over the past few years. by CNB