(AUSTIN) — The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) today announced a $542,000 award to the City of Gilmer that will help fund home repairs for low income homeowners, helping residents maintain homeownership while providing a significant boost to the local economy.

Officials with Gilmer anticipate the funds will help repair or replace six homes owned and lived in by income eligible households.

“Rebuilding older homes not only helps maintain homeownership for low income families, it also helps maintain the vitality of smaller Texas communities,” noted Tim Irvine, TDHCA Executive Director. “Home repair assistance also benefits the regional economy through an influx of construction payroll salaries and increased taxes and fees that help fund essential public services at the local level.”  

TDHCA awards home repair funds to qualifying applicants through the Department’s HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) Program, which helps repair or replace homes owned and lived in by low income homeowners. If a home has deteriorated to the point it no longer is cost effective to repair, it may be demolished and replaced with either a traditional “site built” home or a manufactured home.

Qualifying applicants include rural cities and counties, public housing authorities, Community Housing Development Organizations and other nonprofit housing groups, and certain for-profit organizations which then work with eligible households at the local level.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is the funding source for the HOME Program. The program serves households earning no more than 80 percent of the area median family income, which for a family for four in Gilmer equals an annual income of $45,100.

However, it may be another six to eight weeks before local housing officials are prepared to accept applications for assistance; area homeowners should await further information before contacting the city.