MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the Eau Claire County Housing Authority is to help provide safe, sanitary, and accessible dwelling accommodations for people of low and moderate incomes at rents and prices they can afford, and to help arrange the clearance, re-planning, and reconstruction of areas in which unsanitary or unsafe housing conditions exist.

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

Robin Leary - Chairperson -- County Board of Supervisors

Jennifer Ebert -- Vice-Chairperson/Citizen member

Thomas Vue -- County Board of Supervisors

Philip Swanhorst -- Citizen member 

Ricardo Garcia -- Resident/Citizen member

PROGRAM STAFF

Georgia Crownhart, Executive Director

Nicole Benson, Eligibility Specialist

Glenda Enger, Housing Specialist

Angel Zien, Eligibility Specialist

Tiffani BaDour, Administrative Assistant

Tammy Thurber, Administrative Assistant

HOUSING AUTHORITY PROGRAMS

Section 8 Rental Housing Choice Voucher Program

Administer 208 General, 10 Moving up, 38 Family Unification, 89 Mainstream,10 VASH, 8 Project based units at the Eddy, and 5 Foster Youth Housing Choice Vouchers to subsidize rents to private landlords and help with utility costs.

Maintain a waiting list of about 300 households (purged every 6 months).

Achieved High Performer rating under Section Eight Management Assessment Program (SEMAP)

See the Section 8 Rental Brochure

Housing Authority Programs Application

Eau Claire Public Housing

Own and manage 15 scattered-site, large-family public housing units--28 units acquired and rehabilitated or newly constructed in 1995-1996. Fifteen units have been sold under a Section 5(h) Homeownership Plan, which allows successful FSS families to purchase the home they occupy with deferred-payment, no-interest gap financing from the Housing Authority. Sales proceeds are used to perpetuate the program--homes were bought and rehabilitated to be used for public housing in 1998 and 2003-and are also used in conjunction with the state-funded Fresh Start Program (similar to HUD's Youth Build Program). Fourteen homes have been built and sold to low-income families.

Achieved High Performer rating under Public Housing Management Assessment Program (PHMAP) and Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS)

Received the Milwaukee HUD Office 1997 Award of Excellence

See the Public Housing Brochure

Altoona Public Housing

Manage 36 Public Housing rental units for the Altoona Housing Authority. These consist of 6 Duplexes (2-3 Bedroom units) and 24 single one bedroom units placed within six separate 4-plexes at Golden Acres 1.

Family Self-Sufficiency Program

Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher Program participants have the option to  receive coordination of supportive services to help them to become economically self-sufficient. Since 1993, 71 families have become self-sufficient; and have received $228,806 of escrow funds. 

Housing Rehabilitation Programs

HOME and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Programs - Administered for Eau Claire County, the Village of Fairchild and the City of Augusta, fund substantial rehabilitation of owner-occupied homes and homes purchased by first-time homebuyers with no-interest, deferred-payment loans; and rehabilitates rental units with no-interest, monthly payment loans to landlords (rental units must be occupied by low-income tenants). In addition, a sidewalk in the Village of Fairchild from the Fairchild Nursing Home to the downtown business district was constructed in 1993; an old nursing home, vacant since 1983, was demolished in 1999; and handicapped accessible restrooms at the Augusta city ball field were constructed. 

Eau Claire County Housing Authority works with the Chippewa County Housing Authority to administer Regional CDBG programs for Eau Claire, Buffalo and Pepin Counties.

Housing Cost Reduction Initiatives (HCRI): Provides down payment and closing cost assistance to low-income home buyers. 

See the Housing Rehabilitation Brochure

See the Down payment and closing cost Brochure

Fair Housing

The Housing Authority enforces the County Fair Housing Ordinance, provides outreach, complaint processing, and conducts annual activities in conjunction with Fair Housing Week.

Miscellaneous Client Services

The Eau Claire County Housing Authority provides many services not directly associated with a single program. These services include (when funding allows): a quarterly resident newsletter, one-on-one financial and homebuyer counseling, specialized workshops on topics of financial and credit management, home buying and homeownership, home maintenance, job searching techniques, energy savings, parenting, nutrition, fair housing, and youth-oriented subjects. 
 

Fairchild Senior Living

The Housing Authority purchased the former Fairchild Health Care Center in December 2003, and was successful in obtaining $1,000,000 in state administered CDBG and HOME and Federal Home Loan Bank funds in 2004. The building was renovated into eleven low-income elderly apartments in 2005. This facility is located in the Village of Fairchild, an economically depressed community of about 200 mostly low-income households located about 23 miles from the City of Eau Claire. In 2023, with WHEDA and ARPA funds, 3 more units will be created in the building in a formerly unfinished wing. 

See the Fairchild Senior Living flyer

* National Recognized Award Winning Project *

This project was the winner of two 2006 Awards of Merit from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) in the Project Design-Modernization/Rehabilitation and Program Innovation-Affordable Housing categories and was nominated for Awards of Excellence in both categories. An Award of Excellence was awarded in the Program Innovation-Affordable Housing category. The project was also chosen from 39 Award of Merit winners in the eight-state region to receive the North Central Regional Council of NAHRO's 2006 Housing Achievement Award.