POMEROY — Meigs County Commissioner Mick Davenport said he expects Meigs County will receive up to $100,000 in grant funds through a new Neighborhood Stabilization grant to be shared with five other southeastern Ohio counties.

Davenport and Commissioner Jim Sheets attended a meeting in Jackson Tuesday with representatives from Vinton, Gallia, Lawrence, and Scioto counties, to appoint Vinton County as the administrator of the grant and to begin the application process.

The program funds activities designed to rehabilitate homes and make them available to low to moderate-income first-time homebuyers. Other activities are also allowed under the program, Davenport said, but no specific projects have been proposed for Meigs County. He said Grants Administrator Jean Trussell and Tom Reed of the Gallia-Meigs Community Action Agency will be involved in the planning process.

Ken Reed, Vinton County Economic Development Director, will oversee the operation in the five counties, but local supervision will also be allowed, Davenport said. Reed met with commissioners last week to discuss the program.

The grant will provide $1.2 million to the five counties, and the cities of Portsmouth and Ironton. Davenport said part of the planning process will be determining how the funds are divided up, but said he expects Meigs County’s share to be $100,000 or less, based on population.

The distribution of funds to each region is be based on unemployment rates, foreclosure rates and census data, the number and percentage of home foreclosures in each unit of general local government, the number and percentage of homes financed by a subprime mortgages, and the number and percentage of homes in default or delinquency.

Governments can use their neighborhood stabilization grants to acquire land and property, demolish or rehabilitate abandoned properties, and to offer down payment and closing cost assistance to low- to moderate-income homebuyers — those at 120 percent of area median income.

Once the funding is awarded, it must be used in 18 months. “The clock begins ticking,” Davenport said, once a plan is approved by the state. Davenport said that plan should be completed in February, and will include input from all five counties.