A $2.3 million project to build nine cottage-style residences for senior citizens is planned for a site adjacent to the new 50-unit Grand View Senior Residences in Irwin.
Construction on the four duplexes and one single unit might begin in early 2026 and be ready for occupancy later that year or in early 2027, said Michael Washowich, Westmoreland County Housing Authority executive director.
The units would be built along a privately owned access road from Laurel Avenue in North Huntingdon to the four-story Grand View Senior Residences, which opened in August.
Washowich asked Irwin officials this week to sponsor an application to the state Department of Community and Economic Development for a HOME Investment Partnerships Program grant. The borough would not have to provide any money for the project.
“We feel it (the HOME program) will greatly suit us,” Washowich said of the competitive grant program. The authority will apply for about $2.3 million.
If approved, the grant would provide the majority of the project funding, Washowich said. No date was set for the borough council to consider sponsoring the application.
The authority would have to provide a matching fund of about $7,000 to $10,000 per unit, which could come from Westmoreland County’s allocation of HOME partnership funding from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, said Erik Spiegel, the authority’s director of architectural and engineering services. If that is not available, Washowich said the housing authority would provide the matching funds.
The two-bedroom homes will be about 940 square feet and the one-bedroom home will be about 820 square feet. All units will have covered carports that could be used as a patio. Sidewalks are planned for both sides of the street and there are long-term plans to connect the site to the Norwin Public Library, Spiegel said.
The authority will install solar panels to reduce the electricity costs and make the units more energy efficient, he added.
Rents will be set at levels that will be in step with those at Grand View Senior Residences, Washowich said,
Similar patio homes are planned for what the authority has termed phases III and IV for the North Huntingdon section of the 17-acre parcel, Washowich said. Those phases of the project, closer to Laurel Avenue, will require zoning changes.