Local housing authorities will use federal HUD funds for capital improvements

JEFF HORVATH, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·2 min read

The Scranton Housing Authority plans to use nearly $4 million in federal funding for improvements at its Valley View Terrace and Hilltop Manor apartments.

The Pittston Housing Authority, meanwhile, will use about $1 million allocated through the same federal program to replace the roof at its Infantino Towers apartments for seniors and make other upgrades.

Those and several other public housing authorities in Lackawanna, Luzerne and Monroe counties will together receive more than $17 million through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Capital Fund Program, which delivers annual funding for large-scale improvement projects. U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-8, Moosic, announced the allocations earlier this week.

Scranton Housing Authority Deputy Executive Director John Cappelloni said a portion of the authority’s $3.97 million capital fund allocation will support the ongoing renovation of buildings at Valley View Terrace, where he said eight of the 16 buildings have been renovated and two more are undergoing improvements.

“The new money we’ll use for the next couple buildings,” he said, noting the authority’s goal of ultimately upgrading all the buildings at Valley View with new wiring, plumbing and other features. “It gives these people a nicer place to live.”

The SHA will also use a portion of the capital funds to replace a heating system at Hilltop Manor, “and if there’s any money left over we’ll try to fix some other things that we have a wishlist for,” Cappelloni said.

The Pittston Housing Authority’s $1.03 million capital fund allocation will support the Infantino Towers roof replacement and other improvements, with officials still determining how exactly to deploy all the funds.

“We have so many needs that we have to prioritize,” Executive Director Joe Chacke said.

Generally speaking, Chacke described the HUD capital fund allocation as an important annual resource.

“A lot of our units here in Pittston were built in the late ’60s, early ’70s, and as you can imagine they’re 60 years old now and they need a lot of work,” he said. “So we depend on that money to do some important projects here like (replacing) roofs and windows and utilities and heating units.”

Other local capital fund recipients include the Luzerne County Housing Authority, $3.93 million; Lackawanna County Housing Authority, $3.1 million; Monroe County Housing Authority, $894,564; Carbondale Housing Authority, $1.03 million; Hazleton Housing Authority, $768,190; and Wilkes-Barre Housing Authority, $2.45 million.