LaGRANGE – The Troup County Board of Commissioners reviewed information Thursday on the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing, a program that focuses on improving economies through housing improvements.

“It is a program that is sponsored by UGA, the Georgia Municipal Association and the (Georgia) Department of Community Affairs,” Tracie Hadaway said. “It is a three-year program, and Georgia and mainly DCA, they offer technical support and some collaborative efforts and training and facilitation on housing issues in the municipalities and the counties.”

The program has taken place all over the state, including in Newnan and Pine Mountain, where the initiative helped the municipalities apply for grants and organize local resources to improve existing housing options.

The one thing that the group asks in return is to be able to train local representatives on the program.

“The financial commitment is to send your representatives to a retreat twice a year,” Hadaway said. “They say to budget about $100 a night for lodging depending on how many people you send to this retreat. At the retreats, you hear presentations from what other communities are doing and some of the initiatives that have come out of this program are people applying for community development block grants, infrastructure improvements, developing a land-bank authority to help clear up some of the titles for some of these older neighborhoods, a housing assessment – that is a huge thing.”

The board of commissioners did not make a decision on whether to participate in the program during the meeting.