Housing authority lands $1.5M in grants
Officials: Funding will go toward rehabilitating elderly housing facilities on the Texas side
The Housing Authority of Texarkana, Texas, will receive $1.5 million in grants from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas, intended to help with financing affordable housing projects.
This was the third attempt to qualify for a grant under this system, and this year was the year for HATT.
It will put the funds toward projects rehabilitating elderly housing facilities.
“Third time is the charm,” said Antonio Williams, HATT CEO. “We got the notice recently. The next actions are to be taken by the board, who will work through the next steps, ‘executing a resolution’, to receive the grants. We should start receiving the funding early next year.”
The Williams Homes project is
90% completed.
“These funds will support various sites all over Texarkana, Texas,” Williams said. “Work has already begun, with the first phase to be completed by the end of this year. The second phase, barring delays, will be completed in the first quarter of 2020. The third will be done by August of 2020. The grant money will help support those projects. We are very happy to have this opportunity to assist our clients even more.
“Williams Homes will be done before the end of the year. For the project, current residents were relocated into various other sites, including Robison Terrace. Since the work is almost completed, most of the residents have moved back in.”
Robison Terrace is the next big project, which gets started this month.
“That one we expect to complete early Summer 2020,” Williams said. “Some residents will stay on-site as the work progresses and will get moved around as the work goes on. The rehabilitation and modernization work will be done a floor at a time.”
HATT’s applications were among the 81 considered this year and 34 were actually awarded grants.
“These grants are self-funded through profits generated by the FHLBDallas,” said Greg Hettrick, director of community investment for FHLBDallas. We issue them each year to help out various affordable housing projects fill in financial gaps. The situations and needs differ project by project.”
The recipients are determined through a scoring process, which scores each prospective grant recipient through a system that takes place throughout the applicant process. “A base score will begin right when the process begins,” Hettrick said. “So recipients will have a decent idea where they stand when they start the process.”
During the process, each project is evaluated for viability, in terms of finances, other funds already available and so forth. Each applicant puts in for a request for a dollar amount. The request is filed against the other variables, then the grant is determined. All this takes place over a five-month process. “The announcements go out around October,” Hettrick said. “We want everyone to have a happy Thanksgiving.”
The FHLB-Dallas was established in 1932. The program to support affordable housing projects was established in 1989. The first grants were issued in 1990. “Support is provided by local banks — in Texarkana’s case, it is Bank OZK,” Hettrick said.