Local News
City sights set on blight fight
Areas of San Marcos at risk of becoming blighted, beware.
The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) has awarded a $525,000 Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grant to the city of San Marcos to help redevelop blighted properties.
The grant’s purpose is to allow cities, counties and non-profit organizations to acquire foreclosed or abandoned properties to redevelop them as affordable housing in order to prevent blight and declining property values.
The city’s NSP grant will allow the city to demolish eight blighted structures ($50,000) and purchase, rehabilitate and resell three foreclosed homes ($450,000). Program administration expenses will be reimbursed up to $25,000.
The houses will be sold to individuals or families with a total household income that does not exceed 50 percent of the area median income. At this level, the income of a one-person household could not exceed $25,650 per year; for a four-member household, the total income could not exceed $36,650.
The loans will be financed by TDHCA as a 30-year, zero-interest mortgage and will require the purchaser to pay a $500 down payment. Closing cost assistance and gap financing up to $30,000 will be available to help low-income families purchase these homes.
Funding for this grant is provided from the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) through the U S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The contract period for this grant is expected to begin Sept. 1, 2009 and end Aug. 31, 2011.
For more information, contact Janis Hendrix, community initiatives program administrator, at 393.8147.
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