NAPLES DAILY NEWSDecember 15, 2006Farm Worker Village to get $9.2M federal makeoverThe Collier County Housing Authority has received $9.2 million in federal money to tear down and replace the oldest homes at Farm Worker Village. The money is coming from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development division. A check presentation and ceremony are planned for today in Immokalee. Collier’s Housing Authority received the most money of any housing agency in Florida to rehabilitate farmworker housing this year. “This represents a real, real significant amount of money for the agency and the commitment of the Housing Authority,” said Greg Caruthers, area director for USDA Rural Development. “They do a good job. They are financially sound.” Florida has received more money than any other state to fix up farmworker housing this year, pulling in about 50 percent of the available dollars. Housing agencies in Homestead, Pompano and Belle Glade are sharing in the money. “We did good,” Caruthers said. There was less money requested for the construction of new farmworker housing, so more money is available for improvement projects this year, he said. Collier’s Housing Authority asked for $10 million of the leftover money. It’s getting a nearly $5.3 million grant and a $4 million loan carrying a 1 percent annual interest rate. This is the first time the agency has received money for rehabilitation, said Essie Serrata, the authority’s executive director. “We just didn’t imagine that we would get that amount of funding,” she said. The focus of improvements in Farm Worker Village will be on the A section, built in 1974. In this section, there are 150 units, including 60 one-bedrooms and 44 two-bedrooms. There are also 46 three- and four-bedroom single-family homes. “What we are looking to do is demolish our one-bedrooms and build two-bedroom, two-story apartments,” Serrata said. “We have more of a need for two-bedrooms.” It’s part of a bigger plan that includes turning duplexes into one-bedroom units to give residents more room and to ease parking woes. Drainage also will be improved. After Hurricane Wilma struck Collier County last year, it was the oldest section of Farmworker Village that experienced the most problems. It was swamped with 3 feet of water. Other improvements are planned that residents are sure to notice. “One of the things we hope to definitely do is install air conditioning because we don’t have air conditioning in any of the units,” Serrata said. The project is expected to take 24 months and more money will be needed to do everything that’s planned, she said. “Nine million in Collier County doesn’t go very far,” Serrata said. With the $9 million, she expects to be able to demolish some of the one-bedroom units and replace them with the two-bedroom townhouses. The authority plans to ask for more money from the USDA next year and will apply to the county for additional dollars to go toward other improvements, she said. There are hopes of next redoing the B section, which is nearly 30 years old, Serrata said. The housing at Farm Worker Village will remain affordable, even with so much money spent on improvements, she said. Rents range from $370 to $444 a month. On top of that, some residents receive rental assistance. Collier County has been the third-largest borrower of USDA money for farmworker housing, Caruthers said. Farm Worker Village is one of the largest contiguous farm labor housing projects in the country, with more than 600 units, he said. The improvements will change the face of the housing project and the housing authority, Caruthers said. That’s what Serrata wants. “It’s going to look a lot different from farmworker housing,” she said.
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