Fourteen months after Point Township was cleared of wrongdoing in administering a $381,000 federal grant, the state Department of Community and Economic Development may foist the repayment demand it received from the federal government onto the Northumberland County municipality.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which distributes grants that aid in the creation of low-income housing, wrote in a Sept. 10 letter to DCED that regulations were violated in the Point Township case and the money “must be repaid.”
DCED had absolved Point Township in August 2012.
Point Township received $500,000 from DCED on July 30, 2004, to build a 16-unit housing complex called Kingspointe. Fourteen units were to be sold to qualified low- and moderate-income buyers in the Home Investment Partnership (HOME) program.
The project ultimately failed to meet affordability requirements, HUD said, and Point Township failed to enter into a contract with the developer, the Yoder Group of Turbotville, prior to the expenditure of federal funds.