Tampa is giving up to $100K for home repairs to eligible residents

Share
Window home repair
Window home repair by Niko_Cingaryuk via iStock for WMNF News.

Tampa is providing up to $100,000 to residents for eligible homes that need critical repairs. Renovations will be made through the Healthy Homes Program, which is funded by a federal grant of $1.9 million from the Housing and Urban Development, or HUD.

The city has enough funding to help at least 90 people.

To leverage funds Tampa also added $1 million from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to successfully repair houses.

“We hope that we can give homeowners peace of mind while the program’s funding takes care of expensive repairs that will ensure the longevity of these homes,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said in a press release.

To be eligible for the funds, residents must:

  • Be located in Tampa’s city limits
  • Owned home for at least two years and occupy it
  • Household income must not exceed 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI)

Kayon Henderson is the city’s director of Housing and Community Development.

“The goal of the program is to identify homes that have some health hazards and refine the process to really assist the resident with remediation of the hazards,” she said.

Some hazards include lead, asthma, radon, and mold.

Henderson said the program aims to sustain people in their homes if it’s already affordable, instead of pushing them out.

Monie Davis is an East Tampa homeowner in the middle of receiving her repairs that started in June.

Davis’s roof collapsed into her home. After she called the city, she had her roof tarped within 48 hours

Her roof is complete now, and over the next few months, contractors will assist with replacing new drywall, baseboards, and cabinets from the severe water damage Davis’ home had.

Contractors will also work on her HVAC, water heaters, gutters, smoke detectors, and more. In total, the city will pay over $98,000 for her home’s repairs. Davis and several other homeowners around the city are currently having repairs done on their houses.

Eligible repairs on homes include:

  • Roof
  • Plumbing
  • Electrical
  • Structural systems
  • HVAC
  • Exterior deterioration
  • Water heater replacement
  • Weatherization
  • Accessibility improvements
  • Lead-based paint remediation
  • Radon remediation
  • Water intrusion
  • Smoke/Carbon Monoxide detectors
  • Fence replacement

As of Wednesday, the city has received 25 applicants for the Healthy Homes program. Funding will last just over a year.

This particular program can only help a certain number of people. But Henderson said whether people qualify or not, there are still other options.

“We have the owner-occupied rehab program that we will continue to administer that indeed does a lot of the fixes like roof but however, does not allow us to do lead and mold mediations,” she said.

There is no limit to how many residential homeowners can apply for the owner-occupied rehab program.

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

student meal
Next school year Hillsborough public schools are offering free meals

Hillsborough Public Schools are offering students free meals for the...

Correspondence Through Poetry. A Mind-Numbing Week.

Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems by Herbert Gold...

The sound of change: Music’s influence on anti-war and human rights movements

Throughout history, music has served as a powerful catalyst for...

a man in a tye dye shirt talking on a radio microphone
Recreational pot for Florida is on the ballot this fall—let’s talk about it

In four months, Florida voters have the opportunity to vote...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

LatinX
Player position: