Neighborhood Housing Services seeks county backing to buy tax-delinquent lots, requests $15,000 grant match

Neighborhood Housing Services of Dimmit County urged the Dimmit County Commissioners Court on Tuesday to support an interlocal process under Texas Tax Code section 34.051 that would let community-development corporations have a streamlined path to acquire tax-delinquent lots inside city limits and asked the court for a $15,000 county contribution to match a $10,000 Texas Foundations Fund (TFF) grant for small home repairs.

The request matters because the proposed route would let Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) approach cities and, if the cities agree, receive county cooperation to transfer properties outside the public auction process in order to repurpose them for affordable housing or home repair work.

"We were able to get the bowling field last year for summer flag football and had great success; this is the same effort but for housing," said Mr. Coates, a representative of Neighborhood Housing Services of Dimmit County, describing both the resale bids NHS has already filed and the broader plan to work with cities to acquire long-delinquent tax parcels. "This is to repurpose tax-delinquent land to build low-income homes and to assist…