City Offers Aid to Low-Income Homeowners

Rancho Cordova homeowners have a resource available to them that they may not have heard about.

The Emergency Repair Loan Program is offered to low-income homeowners in Rancho Cordova city limits who need financial help to make repairs to their homes. The program is designed to be used by those who make less than 50 percent of the median income in the Rancho Cordova area, and the loan itself is forgiven if the homeowner continues to live in the house for five years.

Rancho Cordova has offered the program since 2006, but they do not promote it to the public.

“We do not advertise it,” said Reed Flory, the city’s housing services administrator, during the city council meeting on May 4. “My experience has been aggressive advertisement will result in more than we can fund.” Instead, the city relies on its citizens to get news of the program to those who need it.

“We’ve pretty much gone word-of-mouth and are making somewhere between 12 to 18 loans per year,” Flory said.

The program is targeted at individuals who are in desperate need for help with improving the livability of their home. Houses and mobile homes that need repairs for health and safety hazards are eligible for aid. Owners who rent their houses to others are not cannot apply for help, and the city has set strict guidelines for the amount of money a recipient can make per year. According to the program application, a person living along cannot make more than $24,850 per year, and a 3-person household must make less than $31,950.

“It is a program ostensibly directed at last-resort situations,” Flory said. “It is the mobile home whose bathroom floor is disintegrating and falling through. It is the mobile home whose heater has completely fallen from the wall.”

Flory said the program has been well-received by the community, and Councilmember Robert McGarvey commended the efforts the city has made to help its less fortunate.

“I know there’s a lot of people who are living in the mobile homes who need that, so I’m glad that we have that,” McGarvey said during the council meeting. “There are many people in those that are past their limits to do anything, so it ends up being a very dangerous place for them to live. I’m glad that we are able to help.”

The Emergency Repair Loan offers up to $7,500 for repairs on single-family homes and up to $5,000 for mobile home repairs. The loan is also interest-free and 20 percent of the loan balance is forgiven for each year the owner lives in the house after receiving aid. The city has posted the application for the program as well as instructions for applying on their website. Homeowners interested in applying can also call Sarah Bontrager at (916) 231-3354 for more information.

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Posted by Anne Lowe on May 6 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.