In 2015 the City of Oxford Junction was awarded a total of $232,494, and this past year ECICOG has been administering the program. The Oxford Junction CDBG Housing Rehabilitation Program is currently still open, but has completed construction of two homes with $63,165 in repairs, and will assist an additional four homes.
Oxford Junction has far more affordable housing units than many locations state-wide, and there was a need to help with the maintenance and upkeep of these properties to maintain the level of high quality affordable homes throughout the community. Furthermore, no new residential properties have been built in the last five years, so it is even more important to maintain the current housing stock.
In Oxford Junction, about 94.1% of the homes were built before 1979, and more than 60% of the homes that were part of the CDBG program were built before 1939. Because the homes are older, they were in need of updates and repairs just to meet Iowa’s Minimum Rehabilitation Housing Standards, including the need for lead reduction and repair.