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DeKalb officials detail preservation programs: senior repairs, NSP, ERA/ICCI, HOME-ARP and plumbing fixes
Summary
County staff reviewed preservation and homeowner-support programs including special purpose repair grants for seniors, NSP acquisitions and sales, ERA/ICCI rental assistance, HOME-ARP rental assistance and CAPCARE plumbing repairs funded with ARP money.
DeKalb County’s Community Development director and staff outlined a suite of preservation programs the county uses to keep people housed and to maintain aging housing stock.
Alan Mitchell, director of Community Development, described several active programs: a Special Purpose Housing Repair Program that accepts senior applications for up to $16,000 for mechanical, electrical and plumbing repairs; a senior tree-removal program to remove hazardous trees; and a CAPCARE plumbing-and-lateral repair program supported with ARP funds.
Mitchell said the county has long used federal HOME funds to gap-finance affordable projects and that more than $10,000,000 in HOME dollars are available for qualifying proposals. He also discussed the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), which he said has produced 180 sold homes and 168 rental units since 2008 and — counting program income and reprogramming — resulted in approximately $33,000,000 in activity.
Mitchell described an ICCI program (using ERA/ERA 2 funds) that spent $13,000,000 in a six-month window and helped nearly 3,000 households; about $9.5 million of that total went to delinquent rent to prevent eviction. The county has also launched HOME-ARP tenant-based rental assistance and maintains an intake hotline at (404) 687-3500 for residents seeking help, Mitchell said.
Mitchell said a mortgage-assistance fund (referred to as DMACC in his remarks) has provided about $2,000,000 to help homeowners with arrears; the county also contracts with Atlanta Legal Aid Society and other legal partners to assist tenants facing eviction. CAPCARE plumbing repairs have drawn ARP allocations (Mitchell said roughly $5,000,000 had been set aside) and continue to address hazardous conditions that make units uninhabitable.
Commissioners asked follow-up questions about program eligibility, intake backlogs and whether employees could be prioritized for certain NSP acquisitions; Mitchell said the county can and will examine employee lotteries and that some program caps and underwriting rules apply. Mitchell and commissioners acknowledged service bottlenecks: the phone hotline receives many repeat calls and partner agencies processing referrals also have backlogs.
Mitchell urged commissioners to promote programs at the district level because many residents do not see online notices or newsletters, and he asked for additional funding to expand the most in-demand services (senior repairs, tree removal and rental/mortgage assistance).
