New Financial Assistance Programs Available to Help Lake Saint Louis Homeowners

The would like to get the word out about two new financial assistance programs that are available to income-qualifying Lake Saint Louis homeowners who need financial help for home improvement or home maintenance.

The city published a press release recently about the programs. The first program, which is available to all residents of St. Charles County, provides zero-percent interest-forgivable $5,000 loans to income-qualifying households for rehabilitation of owner-occupied single family dwellings.

These loans are intended to bring existing homes up to code with a priority being given to exterior conditions, to address safety issues and to provide better accessibility. This is a highly competitive program for which complete applications are due by 5 p.m. on Fri., Dec. 30.

The second program, which is available only to Lake Saint Louis residents, provides one-time $2,500 grants to remedy property maintenance code violations cited as such by City of Lake Saint Louis Code Enforcement personnel. As with the county-wide program, recipients must be home-owners and meet low income guidelines. While there is no deadline for application submittal for this program, funds are limited and will be awarded to qualifying homeowners on a first come, first served basis.

At the Dec. 5 board of aldermen meeting, Ward 1 Alderman Ralph Sidebottom said that these programs would provide help beyond what can be offered by Lake Saint Louis' Neighborhood Assistance Preservation Program (NAPP).

When more complicated issues like electrical or plumbing problems came up, Sidebottom said, "Unfortunately we had no programs to get money. We literally ran into a stone wall. NAPP was really operating on the goodwill of people . . .who came in and helped us when we were working on one of our projects."

"If we use this right it will help people who are beyond the help that NAPP has the expertise to be able to fix, people who were falling through the cracks," Sidebottom said.

Additional information for both of these Federally funded programs, along with applications, is available through the Community Development Department at Lake Saint Louis City Hall or on the City’s website at www.lakesaintlouis.com.