AUBURN – Affordable housing for the disabled got a boost Tuesday when the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that John F. Murphy Homes is getting a $1.7 million grant.

Peter Kowalski, executive director for John F. Murphy Homes, said plans are to build three group homes: two four-person homes and one two-person home.

“The state has been in such a tight fiscal climate the past couple of years, and there have been a lot of budget cuts to people with disabilities,” Kowalski said. “It’s a really good deal for people with disabilities, great deal for the community, because it creates lots of jobs.”

Hiring local companies to complete projects is something Kowalski says the organization insists on to keep the funds in the community.

“We’re real appreciative of the community support and we’d rather keep it here,” Kowalski said.

John F. Murphy Homes just finished another HUD-funded project on Main Street in Lewiston consisting of two buildings of five units each, one of which has a geothermal heating unit.

“We used a different construction technique on one of them that makes for a super insulated house. We’re real excited about that because what we’re able to do with the HUD projects is do some innovation, and then we’ll rebuild it into the future again and again,” Kowalski said.

Qualified individuals are required to pay 30 percent of their income for rent and the federal government pays the remainder. To qualify, a household must have one or more very low income adults with disabilities, such as physical, developmental or chronic mental illness.

New construction of the specialized, handicap-accessible houses is almost essential, because reconstructing existing buildings so they are handicap compliant and energy efficient is difficult to do.

Some of the John F. Murphy Homes’ original houses are beginning to no longer meet the accessibility needs of the people who live in them, making this a timely grant since those individuals could be moved into the new homes upon completion if that need arises.

“This is just the greatest news,” Kowalski said. “It’s a win for the state, a win for the people, and a win for us and the community.”

The grant process is competitive with funding for only 10 units in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Kowalski said the company applied for and was granted all 10.