Rush Township supervisors held their 2016 Home Application Public Hearing on Thursday.

The township anticipates applying for $337,118 in 2016 HOME funds, to be used with the $12,882 in Act 137 funds received from Schuylkill County.The Housing Rehabilitation Program is set up to rehabilitate low and moderate income owner-occupied homes to bring them up to the Department of Community and Economic Development's repair/replacement standards.The project consists of the rehabilitation of existing owner-occupied homes, meaning no activities are planned that would result in the displacement of families or individuals.It is the intent of the supervisors to target the program to be available for residents throughout the entire township.The HOME Program requires further targeting to be provided for individuals other than just on a first-come, first-served basis, and a limit of only 25 percent of the grant funds can be used.The township is proposing targeting the disabled, senior citizens, families with children under 18 years of age, and moderate income households 80 percent or below.The township anticipates completion of about 12 homes. To start, a goal of three homes from each category will be projected as the first goal for the program, which will enable the township to meet goals that were set to be completed with ACT 137 funds.Any HOME program funds remaining will be used to complete one additional project from each category, starting from the first category and following through to the fourth category until all funds are expended.A category will only be skipped if there are no homeowners on the entire list that meet that targeted category.Comments may be submitted to the township regarding the application up until Nov. 10, with the board planning to approve the 2016 HOME Application at next month's board of supervisors meeting.