Peachtree Corners Mayor and city council on Tuesday approved the city to join the federal Urban County grant program, which provides funding for housing and development.
The program issues funds from three U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants for programs such as homeownership assistance, homelessness prevention and infrastructure development.
Before joining, Gwinnett County could not count the city’s population toward its annual funding allocation, the AJC reported in January. Peachtree Corners is the county’s largest city, with a population of about 42,000.
“By entering the Urban County program, Peachtree Corners not only makes itself eligible to apply for grant funds from Gwinnett County HUD programs, but it also allows its residents the opportunity to apply for either the County’s homeowner rehabilitation program or its first-time homebuyer down-payment assistance program,” Peachtree Corners City Manager Brian Johnson said.
In recent years, county officials asked the city to reconsider because its absence has cost the county at least $1.75 million in federal grant money. Peachtree Corners was the only one of Gwinnett’s 16 cities to not participate.
Johnson previously told the AJC that the city bowed out of the program because no residents had applied for the grants in the two low-income census tracts that qualify for the program.
Since Peachtree Corners is now participating, the county can count the City’s population as part of its annual funding allocation which will result in an annual gain for Gwinnett County of about $350,000, Johnson said. There is not a set amount of funding the city will receive yet.
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