Oct. 17, 2023 – Tennessee Housing Development Agency has awarded over $1.6 million in grant funding to three West Tennessee municipalities to make to substandard homes for elderly and disabled residents.
THDA awarded HOME Program grants of $500,000 each to the City of Bolivar and the Town of Whiteville and another totaling $660,377 to the City of Brownsville to renovate or rebuild single-family homes located within their jurisdictions. Each locality will be able to repair or rebuild up to seven homes. The projects will benefit very-low-income and low-income individuals that do not have the financial resources to make needed improvements to their residences.
“Providing safe, decent housing is important for all Tennesseans,” THDA Executive Director Ralph M. Perrey said. “With the help of this HOME Program funding, these three communities will be able to ensure more residents have access to just that.”
The next step for Bolivar, Whiteville and Brownsville will be to hold public meetings that outline application procedures and grant guidelines. Once applications are received, a priority list will be formed based on the level of rehabilitation work required, as well as each applicant’s socioeconomic factors.
Each home selected under the program will receive repairs that will bring it up to code. If the hard cost of repairs exceeds more than 75 percent of the home’s appraised value, the funds will be used for reconstruction.
The grants are being administered by Southwest Tennessee Development District for all three localities.
The HOME program is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and is administered in part in Tennessee by THDA. During the most recent funding round, THDA awarded 11 competitive HOME grants statewide totaling $4.9 million.
HOME grants must be used for the production, preservation, or rehabilitation of affordable housing for low and very low-income families and individuals.
