Nine residents receive new homes through HOME grant program
San Jacinto News- Times - May 2009

COLDSPRING – Nine grateful homeowners were visited by San Jacinto County Judge Fritz Faulkner last Wednesday as he toured their homes recently received through a grant provided by the HOME Investment Partnerships Program. The program is designed to provide fi nancial assistance to income qualifi ed households for the rehabilitation or reconstruction of owner occupied substandard homes that were directly affected by Hurricane Rita. “The focus of the rehabilitation/ reconstruction is to provide safe, decent and sanitary housing by bringing existing substandard housing units into compliance with all applicable health and safety codes and when none exist, the Texas Minimum Construction Standards and all applicable local codes and ordinances, including city specifi c building codes as applicable,” said Judge Faulkner. “I never thought I could have something like this,” said new homeowner Bettye Lou Travis. Travis recently had open heart surgery and when she was released from the hospital she returned to her new prefabricated mobile home on Parker Street in Coldspring. “It’s much more than I expected,” Travis said. Other homeowners expressed the same gratitude as Travis. The nine new homes, including one rehabilitation, are located all around San Jacinto County. Stephen and Barbara Watson received a new mobile home in Point Blank; Martha Gutherie, Bessie Johnson, Gerald and Tammy Morgan, Roger Lee Senter and Lillie Washington have new mobile homes in the Coldspring area, while Beverly Felton’s Coldspring home was rehabilitated and Lois Washington received a new mobile home in Willis. The project grant amount for San Jacinto County totaled $680,727. Of that total, $654,545 was for project costs and $26,181 was budgeted for administrative costs. The nine homes recently completed represent the second round of HOME Investment Partnerships Program housing for San Jacinto County. The first round was completed in 2006 and included six new mobile homes for a project cost of $325,338. To be eligible for assistance through the program all applicants must meet certain criteria. Their total household gross income must be less than 80 percent of the area’s median income limit; the applicant must own the property and occupy the property as his or her principal residence; and all delinquent property taxes must be paid prior to the award for rehabilitation/ reconstruction assistance. The property must be a single-family dwelling located within San Jacinto County.