A local agency has been awarded a $102,000 grant to preserve rural housing.

Organized Community Action Program, which serves seven Alabama counties, including Bullock, Butler, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Lowndes and Pike counties, received the grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to help repair rural housing and make energy efficiency improvements.

OCAP Director Wanda Moultry said the organization will do some 10 HUD-type houses for families in Covington County.

Moultry said that the families had to meet certain requirements such as homes must have been built after 1978 and have a very low income.

“We advertise and those that apply, we do points based on the composition of the house,” Moultry said.

Things included in the composition of the house include elderly, handicapped, if the family has children under 18, disabled, and low income.