‘Great House Loan Program’ to help beautify Warren neighborhoods

WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) – Warren’s third and fourth wards have found a creative way to use ARPA money to help residents beautify neighborhoods.

Mayor Doug Franklin says it’s truly how public-private partnerships work for the benefit of communities.

Joined by 3rd Ward Councilman Greg Greathouse, other city leaders, and representatives from 7 17 Credit Union Thursday, Franklin signed the contract on the Residential Exterior Home Improvement Loan Program for the city’s third and fourth wards.

“It’s siding, it’s windows, it’s a new roof, it’s sidewalks, it’s landscaping — if you want to take down a tree, whatever you want to do as long as it’s on the outside so it beautifies the wards that it’s in,” said Greathouse.

The program is unofficially called the “Great House Loan Program,” named after both its purpose and Councilman Greathouse who came up with the idea. He and Councilman James Shaffer used a little more than $700,000 in ARPA funding to secure the loan with 7 17.

“We’re putting that into a loss reserve fund so that we can expand upon that and hope to create a loan program of at least $7 million to lend out into the community,” said 7 17 CEO John Demmler.

“It’s really kind of heartwarming to see how government can work with the private sector to put a program that’s going to have so much benefit to our residents and our neighborhoods because it’ll improve property values,” said Franklin.

Under the program, qualifying applicants with low to moderate incomes can receive a low interest loan of up to $10,000. The interest rate for the loans is 5.99% with monthly payments around $100.

Those who want to apply for the loan program will do so through 7 17.

“If they can keep the loan losses down around 5 percent, there’s the opportunity to leverage that $7 million into $14 million so we might be able to open this up to the entire city,’ said Greathouse.

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