Harlingen officials outline use of CDBG, HOME and ARP funds to speed home repairs and veteran services

Harlingen city staff told the City Commission on the evening of the May meeting that the Community Development Department is deploying a mix of federal grants to support housing rehabilitation, emergency repairs and veteran services.

The department’s director, Sandy Alvarez, said the city’s entitlement awards for the 2024–25 cycle included $913,635 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and $325,911.52 in HOME Investment Partnerships funding. “We actually just received our letter from HUD for 25‑26, and we are getting a little bit more,” Alvarez said during the presentation.

Alvarez spelled out several programs: a housing rehabilitation and reconstruction program that reconstructed one home this year at a cost of $106,512; an increase in down‑payment assistance from past levels up to $75,000 to match rising home prices; a Healthy Homes grant (applied for in 2022, awarded in June 2023, with funds released in September 2024) that limits repairs to $10,000 per home and addresses health‑and‑safety hazards; and HOME‑ARP and ARP allocations targeted for supportive services and housing for veterans.

The city reported it has a pool of approximately $400,000 in housing rehabilitation/reconstruction funds that could be used for emergency repairs: Alvarez said that money could be deployed to help roughly 40 homes with up to $10,000 each rather than pursuing full reconstructions for only two or three households. She noted the program requires beneficiaries to be homeowners and for households to be income‑eligible.

Commissioners pressed staff on timing and eligibility. Alvarez said the department can begin accepting applications “maybe two weeks at most,” subject to required environmental reviews, household income verification and procurement of a contractor pool. She described the grant assistance as a forgivable deferred loan with a five‑year term under the current policy.

Alvarez gave specific project and procurement numbers: the department converted about 240 streetlights as an energy retrofit at a CDBG cost of $33,086; allocated $454,000 to a Los Vecinos street project and $216,000 for Vestal Park lighting (the latter came in under budget); and awarded a fire‑hydrant project to the lowest bidder at $238,002.26 after budgeting $314,856. She reported 82 Healthy Homes applications, 26 eligibility determinations and about 18 completed inspections to date.

On veterans and ARP funding, Alvarez said the city received $1.2 million under Home ARP with $287,900 already committed to supportive services and other allocations for local nonprofits; she also said the city was awarded $400,000 in one veterans assistance grant and $500,000 for a “Housing for Heroes” program, with program caps and expenditure deadlines tied to federal rules.

Commissioners asked the department to prepare flyers and outreach materials for upcoming town halls and to coordinate with the Veterans Advisory Board and other local nonprofits to speed enrollment. Alvarez said staff are ready to start intake and will notify commissioners when application intake opens so they can direct constituents to the program.

Alvarez and other staff repeatedly emphasized federal compliance requirements and procurement timelines as limits on how fast work can start. "It takes a while" to satisfy HUD guidelines, she said, but added that the department has begun Tiered environmental reviews and can move quickly once those steps and contractor pools are in place.

The commission did not take an immediate vote on program design changes; commissioners requested a follow‑up update and outreach materials for district town halls.