East Texas

By KELLY GOOCH
Staff Writer

JACKSONVILLE -- The city of Jacksonville has been approved to receive state funds that will be used to help rebuild or renovate residents' homes.

According to a letter to Mayor Robert Haberle, the 2008 HOME Investment Partnerships Program application for Owner Occupied Rehab Assistance was approved by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs' Governing Board on Dec. 18.

The project award amount is $375,000 and the administrative award amount is $7,500.

Haberle said the city must pay 20 percent of the total cost of rebuilding or renovating six homes. The city has already budgeted between $58,000 and $60,000.

Now that the city's application has been approved, City Manager Mo Raissi said a public hearing in February or March will let people know about the opportunity to have work done on their homes.

Residents will be able to apply and applicants will be narrowed down to six, Haberle said.

But there are some requirements as far as who can be chosen.

Haberle said criteria for the applicants includes that they must live in a single-family dwelling and the home must be owner-occupied and not be rented.

Additionally, Raissi said criteria for applicants also includes that they must be low-income and said "that income level fluctuates every year."

"It's really a great deal," Haberle said. "These people go from substandard, unsafe housing to appropriate, safe housing. It's like winning the lottery."

"I think this is a great program for low-income citizens," Raissi said. "Those are nice houses they can be proud of."

This is not the first time Jacksonville has been chosen to receive these state funds.

In 2006, the state funds totaled at least $300,000 and helped pay for six projects, Haberle said.

Raissi said there were 60 applicants in 2006 and six homes were rebuilt on the land the houses were already on.

Haberle said the HOME Investment Partnerships Program was established in 1990.

The program "provides multiyear housing strategies for 'participating jurisdictions'(PJs) to strengthen public-private partnerships and provide more affordable housing via block grants," according to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs' Web site. "PJs are units of government so designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

In general, many of the larger cities and counties in Texas are PJs in their own right.

TDHCA receives a statewide block grant of HOME funds for areas of the state which have not received a separate PJ status from HUD."