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Some rundown homes in Beulaville and Rose Hill will get a facelift, thanks to $950,000 community development block grants for neighborhood revitalization, which the towns have been awarded from the NC Department of Commerce. Duplin County also received $950,000 in CDBG-NR funding.
The grants, $950,000 each, will go toward housing improvements for low- and moderate-income individuals.
“We’ve continued to make major investments in North Carolina communities that need support with affordable housing,” former Governor Roy Cooper stated in a press release issued Dec. 31. “These neighborhood revitalization grants will help rural communities improve economic prosperity for all of their residents.”
In October, both town boards unanimously approved their applications for the grant funding.
During a public hearing at the Beulaville Board of Commissioners October meeting, Tammy Daniels with The Adams Company explained that the funding will be used to rehabilitate or completely reconstruct homes owned by low- to moderate-income individuals. Seven homeowners were selected to be part of the town’s application for the grant, with four homeowners chosen, as well as three alternates.
Four homes will be refurbished with the grant. Three alternates are chosen since sometimes, people drop out of the program because their circumstances may have changed or they may have sold the homes in question.
“It’s a win-win for everyone involved,” said Beulaville Mayor Hutch Jones. “The intent of the grant is to help the greater community maintain property value. Its focus is to target distressed properties through an identification, application, interview, and engineer-led inspection process. Once properties are vetted through these stringent steps, work is approved by the town and completed by vetted contractors who bid on the necessary construction. At the end, the town participates as a conduit and partner in the program, along with the homeowner and vetted contractors.”
Rose Hill Mayor Davy Buckner said that the grant funding will help rebuild four homes within the town. “We had 16 applications, and out of those 16, we have four homes that will be reconstructed,” he explained. “My understanding is that they will be torn down and rebuilt.”
Both towns’ application process included eligibility requirements and a site visit from a committee.
At the Rose Hill Board of Commissioners October meeting, Kevin Amory with Insight Planning and Development, who’s assisting the town with the process, stated that the homes were in such a state of disrepair, reconstruction would be the best option, rather than renovation.
“So when we reconstruct the house, we try to give them a similar house, the same size house,” Amory explained to the town board. “If somebody’s got a two-bedroom, we rebuild them a two-bedroom. The only exception is all of our houses have two bathrooms, which is normal. A lot of times, we may be tearing down a house with three bedrooms and one bath; we’re not taking out a bathroom, we’ll build a new bath.”
A portion of the grant funding would also go to help temporarily relocate residents of the homes being demolished and reconstructed, and another portion goes toward administrative costs.
Amory also explained that the program is “a self-forgiving loan” for the homeowners. “It forgives one-eighth per year, so 12.5%. If they sell the house before the full eight-year term is up, then whatever loan amount is there upon sale, that money will revert to the town. At the end of the eight years, the deed of trust is vacated and it’s 100% their house.”
