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Traylor to Administer Jacksonville Homes Program
May.26.2009 |
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HOME sweet HOME: Housing grant info meetings are next week
Jacksonville Progress
May 21, 2009 12:45 am
— By Kelly Young
kyoung@jacksonvilleprogress.com
The city of Jacksonville has once again been selected as a recipient of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs’ HOME Grant — which will allow six new houses to be built for some of the community’s most economically disadvantaged — and two informational meetings have been scheduled next week for those interested in applying.
While the meetings, to be held at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 27, inside the Norman Activity Center, are not mandatory for participation in the grant, they are the best way to become knowledgeable about this potentially life-changing opportunity.
“The three main qualifications for this grant are that applicants must own their own home, must live within the Jacksonville city limits and must meet the state’s income limits,” said Will Cole, director of the city’s public works department. “Applications will be available at the information meetings, and to keep everybody on the same playing field, they won’t be available until that time. If someone can’t make one of the meetings but they still want an application, they can call me to get one.”
Cole can be reached at 903-589-3510.
In order to qualify for consideration, applicants must make less than 80 percent of the median annual income for the area, which for the city of Jacksonville means a person living alone must make no more than $25,550 a year.
The income limit has also been set at $29,200 for a two-person household, at $32,850 for three people, at $36,500 for four people, at $39,400 for five people, at $42,350 for six people and at $48,200 for seven people.
Each applicant will be graded using a number of criteria, and those applicants facing hardships like being handicapped or being a single parent will be factored into the scoring.
“The goal is to give these houses to the six in the worst condition. Traylor & Associates will be our grant consultants for this program, and they will be the ones making the decision on the six grant recipients. Once they have selected the winners, those names will need to be presented to the city council for approval,” Cole said.
All applications must be turned in to city hall by June 18 in order to be considered. Cole predicted it may take as long as 60 days from the deadline for the grant recipients to be announced.
The total grant amount for this year’s projects is $375,000, with each of the six houses having a construction cap of $80,000. Eighty percent of the grant is provided by the state, with the city matching 20 percent. Jacksonville City Council already has set aside $58,000 in this year’s budget for the HOME Grant.
This is the fourth time Jacksonville has received funding through the HOME Grant, with the most recent occurring in 2005. About 80 households applied for a new home last time, 20 of which met all of the grant’s requirements.
According to Cole, the six households chosen for a rebuild will need to secure alternate housing for themselves while the work is being done.
“The construction of these houses happens fairly quickly; it is sometimes a little longer, but the people are typically only displaced for about 45 days,” he said. “At this time it is looking like we will absolutely be able to move people back into their new homes by the end of this calendar year.”
Mayor Robert Haberle said it is a thrill for him to see how the HOME Grant is able to change the lives of Jacksonville families.
“We are always excited to do anything we can to improve the quality of life in Jacksonville — everybody in town deserves to live in a clean, safe, decent neighborhood, and this grant helps us get that much closer to that goal,” Haberle said. “Being able to help provide safe housing for some of our low-income residents is a service the city is very pleased to be able to do, and we are going to keep applying for these grants so we can continue to provide this again in the future.”
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
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