By ANDREA POTEET
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYANDOTTE — A loss for some cities will be a gain here.
Councilors Monday voted to accept $836,295 from Michigan State Housing Development Association for its Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 after some cities involved in the project failed to spend the money by the grant deadline.
Wyandotte, which began accepting $6.4 million in NSP funds nearly three years ago, was ranked as a top performer in the grant program, which allocates money for cities to rehabilitate and sell blighted houses.
“They see that we’re performing at a higher level,” City Engineer Mark Kowalewski said. “We’ve spent 92 percent of our original grant … It’s a combination of our great performance enabling us to build these houses, and the failure of seven of these other cities.”
Part of the additional grant money will be used for two currently planned houses, at 2456 Eighth and 2320 Eighth, projects estimated at $400,000 and projected to be finished by April 30. The grant money is expected to be delivered from Feb. 11, the end of the current grant period, to April 30.