City officials took a small step toward addressing Page’s housing crisis last week after Page Community Development Director Kimberly Johnson brought to Page City Council a proposal that could result in the construction of several homes targeted at low income earners. 

As part of annual “community development block” grants handed out by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Johnson told council the city could be eligible for a grant of up to $300,000 to assist in a city project that meet a number of criteria. 

The criteria, according to the department, include: 

• Benefit at least 51 percent low to moderate income persons in the community 

• Aid in prevention or elimination of slum or blight 

• Solve an urgent-need health hazard. 

Those requirements are part of a process wherein cities must compete for the grants based on how productive coordinators believe the proposed project will be. There are a limited number of grants available each year. The city has already received grants through the program under a different umbrella of less restrictive requirements and is approved for another this year.  

The non-competitive grant will be used for pathways and restrooms at Golliard Park, as well as new playground equipment at Children’s Park and the Sports Complex Annex park. 

However, this will be the first time Page will apply for a competitive community block grant alongside it.  

Council gave Johnson and Community Development staff the greenlight to pursue making preparations for applying for the competitive grant. Specifically, the proposed project would entail the city purchasing vacant property or properties within Page at market value. 

From there, the city would then contract with a private development company to create affordable single-family homes on the land. Non-profit firms that specialize in building low-income housing would be prioritized, Johnson said. She also noted community development staff had already been in talks with one such company based out of Flagstaff. 

Johnson continued by saying that although the grants haven’t been announced yet, they will likely be available in the next few months. Cities are asked to have extensive preliminary work done before bringing a project forward for approval, including an environmental impact study. 

Although the non-competitive grants come with little to no financial obligation on the receiving end, the competitive grants require some form of a cash match to be considered seriously. 

Johnson told council that a match of at least 20 percent automatically puts proposals near the top of the pile for consideration. 

Having past successful projects gives a proposal higher marks for approval, too, but Page has never utilized the program in the past, she said. Council approved $75,000 for the current budget year to put toward land acquisition, which would allow the city to meet the 20 percent cash match stipulation. 

Johnson also proposed the city coordinate with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to discuss loan options for future buyers of the homes. What prerequisites a potential buyer would have to meet needs to be further fleshed out as well. 

Johnson said early estimates lead her to believe the city could build between four and seven homes depending on the land purchased and the construction company selected. 

Other project ideas for the grant have also been publicly discussed. One included a down payment assistance program for new and low-income home buyers. However, Johnson said the city’s coordinator for the program told her, “[buyers in Page that meet a general ‘low to moderate income’ status] would not actually be able to afford a house in Page even if they received down payment assistance.” 

Councilman Levi Tappan voted in favor of putting the proposal in motion, but mused if there would be a better way to utilize the $300,000 check to help address the housing crisis in Page. He alluded to the possibility of beautifying a whole street or section of the city. 

Councilman Dennis “Dugan” Warner called the proposal “a step in the right direction,” adding, “this solves [the issue of] clearing derelict properties, and is essentially getting us new housing for a struggling, struggling market.” 

Regardless of whether Page is successful acquiring the grant, he concluded, the city ought to start moving in the direction of clearing abandoned and unused properties to pave the way for developers to begin building more low-income housing.