EATON — On Monday, Aug. 1, during the Preble County Commissioners’ regular meeting, the board met with with Janelle Caron and her team from Community Action Partnership to discuss the Community Housing Improvement Program, or CHIP, and its benefits to the county.

CHIP and Community Action would work with the county to provide funding for communities to improve or provide additional affordable housing for low-to-moderate income citizens.

The team explained, other cities like Kettering and Fairborn also use the same proposed program. One of Caron’s team members, Barry Strahorn, explained how well they are doing in Preble County.

“We had 23 pre-applicants for this program. Our milestone was to have 13 repairs completed and three rehabs. So, we had enough pre-applicants, basically, when we did criteria for our first-year milestones.”

He continued, “And these applicants are coming from all across the county. From Lewisburg to Eaton to New Paris.”

The team informed commissioners they give 12 months of rental assistance to qualifying applicants. However, for this program to continue and prosper in the county, CHIP and CAP need to hire and train 12 individuals to assist.

Although the program partners with the HIT Foundation, it will need more ground in the county. The HIT Foundation helps to refer applicants, but does not maintain the program. To truly begin the program in the county, CHIP is asking commissioners pay the cost of the training for the 12 individuals.

Commissioner Adam Craft suggested, “Maybe we can bring this up at our next land bank meeting? Maybe we can share the cost.”

No action was taken on CAP’s request.