City of Valdosta Neighborhood Development Division announces new Community Development Block Program Funding application period

In 2019, The City of Valdosta’s Neighborhood Development will be enforcing a new application process for the Housing Rehab Assistance Program. The program will now have application periods instead of taking rolling applications year round. The new application period will open on January 6 and close on April 30 of every year. These dates are set based on when the Neighborhood Development Division receives funds from HUD. In order to be in compliance with the Community Development Block Grant, HUD required these changes to be made.

Each December prior to the application period, there will be notifications in the newspaper and on the city’s website about the application period or until funding is exhausted. If by chance funding is exhausted in February, and there are still more applications, the application period will close and those applicants will have to wait until the upcoming year to reapply.

Citizens interested in applying should call Neighborhood Development to see if they are eligible and have all documentation for their homes in order, meaning they have a cleared deed and being income eligible. Any homeowner that has deed issues will be asked to reapply when they have the issues resolved.

Applicants will be accepted on the ‘First Come, First Serve, First Qualify’ basis. If a homeowner has issues with their deed, they will not qualify and their application will not be placed on hold. The homeowner will have to reapply after all necessary paperwork is completed and met all eligibility requirements. If all the yearly funding has been allocated, applicants will have to wait until the upcoming year to reapply.

“Each year that we receive funding is a blessing and we need to be good stewards of that funding and make sure we can assist as many families as we possibly can,” says Vanassa Flucas, Neighborhood Development Director.

There have been additional changes in the funding allocations, which will better suit the community. Housing program dollars have been split up into 3 areas:

• One area is for Emergency Repairs. For homeowners whose homes are already in good order, but are damaged due to natural disasters, there will be up to $10,000 in funding set aside to help with those repairs. Also, now, if you do receive help from the Emergency Repairs Program, you can still qualify for the Housing Repairs program at another time.
• The Major Rehab program area will have up to $45,000 in funding to help homeowners bring their homes up to housing code.
• The Reconstruction Program was put in place for instances when doing a rehab will cost more than demolishing a unit. In this case, we will rebuild a new unit on the property of the old unit.

If you have any questions, please contact Neighborhood Development at 229-671-3617.