Defiance County assistance programs.

Find housing repair assistance programs
Several hundred thousands dollars is coming to the Northwest Ohio area from a new program that is being aimed at the areas housing problems. The Northwest Ohio Housing Coalition will be managing the program for the state of Ohio and the federal government.

The program is known as the Homeless Prevention & Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRR), and the money will be used to prevent evictions and prevent homelessness before it occurs, so it takes a proactive approach to solve the problem.

The program that will provide people with rent help will be run out of the Northwestern Ohio Community Action Commission (NOCAC), which is a member of the coalition.

The HPRR program is funded from federal government funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The five-county area in Ohio of Defiance, Fulton, Paulding, Henry, and Williams will receive a total of $581,000 in assistance.

The purpose of the federal funding is to provide homeless and eviction prevention services to households who would otherwise be homeless and provide rapid re-housing to people who may have lost their home, according to a Northwest Ohio Housing Coalition spokesperson. The state government decided the area that would be given the money. Then as a housing coalition they decided who would best utilize the funds and the best ways to get the money to people who need it the most. The NOCAC organization was selected because it is one of the larger agencies and works with homeless and people struggling to make ends meet.

The funding will be used to provide either one-time, short- or medium-term assistance and both low and moderate-income households who are in need may be eligible. This assistance could include rent arrearages, payments for deposits and first-month rent, grants for utility bills, utility deposits. The applicant will be reassessed every 3 months for the potential for an ongoing subsidy.

For more information about the program or to apply, call the housing stabilization group at 419-782-6962.