Columbus, Georgia

Columbus Consolidated Government

Referrals From Mayor and Council-09/02/2003





Subject Home Rehabilitation Program



Description Provide a report on the program that provides funding for home

rehabilitation. Also provide information on how long the waiting list is and

where this funding is coming from along with a basic overview of the program.

(Request of Councilor Woodson)



Received From



Assigned To Richard Bishop, Lynnette Gross



Please enter a date mm/dd/yy before any comments are added.

Response Per your request, the following are some of the reasons that we can

not (should not) use the Homeowner Rehabilitation Funds to assist the citizens

once they have been sited by Code and Enforcement:



1. The first reason is that citizens have to apply for the Homeowner

Rehabilitation Assistance due to the fact that if the City of Columbus assists

them we will put a lien on the property for a period of 10 years. Depending on

their income it may be a deferred grant or a repayable loan if the citizen is

over the low- income limit established by HUD.



2. Another reason is that a lot of these homes are in such bad shape that

$30,000 might not bring it up to code and with HOME Funds if we touch a project

we have to bring it completely up to code.



3. If the home has structural damage our policies state that we do not assist

in the project as it is never known how much is going to be needed and to what

extent (once you open up structural damage then you can well exceed the $30,000

cap prior to beginning to address any code issues).



4. For the last two years we have had a backlog of initially over 150

applicants. Our funds were cut from HUD and we still have 32 applicants

pending. We can only assist approximately 16 citizens each year with the

amount of funds we have. We have not added any new applicants to the list

because we would like to get to the point that we can take applications once a

year and help those that apply and qualify that year. We have struggled to get

to this point.



5. To be able to help any citizen we must have a clean title to the property

and the majority of the time this is what stops a lot of citizens from being

able to get the assistance. Quite often the demolition citations are a result

of not having clear title.



Please let me know if you need any additional information.