FARMINGTON – After four years and dealing with several problems, a Perham Street duplex for homeless youth is ready.

The New Beginnings site missed an October opening, Robert Rowe, executive director, said Wednesday, when a couple of additional problems with the house were found and loss of a grant required finding alternate funding for the program.

Renovation of the house was completed, he said, when a sewer line broke. It was dug up, repaired and the house cleaned. Then they discovered the need to repair and retest a spot previously missed where they found a high concentration of lead paint.

Problems continued this fall when they learned the funding they were using to support the program had been slashed, he said. A $200,000 federal grant from the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act unexpectedly was cut, causing the group to reorganize its funds and lay off a couple of outreach workers, he said.

The funding loss also required reorganizing coverage for young people who will live in the duplex. Planned as an independent living arrangement for homeless people ages 18 to 21, New Beginnings takes on a parental role and helps them develop a better start during the 18 months that they are allowed to live there, he said.

“A lot of young people need a place to establish a good rent record,” he said. “By purchasing the building, we can rent to them and help them get started by providing a safe place for them while they establish a rent record.”

Rent amounts are based on income, he said, with a portion returned to them to help set up their own living arrangements.

Finding affordable housing with a part-time job or low wages, said Ernest Gurney, the local New Beginnings outreach worker who works with homeless teens, is difficult, especially now with heating oil, electricity and transportation prices.

“Winter is always rough, but it seems to be harder this winter than I’ve seen before. People are in really tight situations who wouldn’t have been there a year ago as they try to make ends meet,” Gurney said.

The program has been subleasing to youth from Livermore to Wilton and Farmington right along, he said.