Haines City CRA to spend $3M on refreshing residents' homes via new rehab program

FOX 13's Carla Bayron reports.

HAINES CITY, Fla. - If you need important renovations done to your home in Haines City, you may consider applying to the Community Redevelopment Agency's new Residential Rehabilitation Program.

The program can help give seniors or families struggling on a fixed income some peace of mind with long-overdue repairs.

"This house was built in 1924," said Haines City homeowner Sonya Rivera. "The windows are very deteriorated, and the doors are a little deteriorated."

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She's applying for the program this year to get these long overdue parts of her home fixed. The CRA has $3 million to spend before the end of the year on refreshing residents' homes, not only on the outside with roofing, painting and ADA compliance, but on the inside as well with electrical or HVAC repairs.

"Someone may have gotten a brand-new roof, but they can't get in and out of the house because of their knees, or they had a mobility issue. There was a greater need that our residents had, and we were finding ways to fulfill that need," said Jazmine Beltran, a CRA project coordinator.

The grant is up to $50,000 per home, which equates to about 60 homes with any leftover funds to be spent on someone else. There are some qualifying factors including income and living within the CRA boundaries.

As someone who benefited from the program last year, Rivera had the exterior painting and roofing done, and she encourages others to apply.

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"This is something that, yes, I wanted it to happen, but never I was expecting it from the city to give us that blessing," she said.

The city is also looking for multiple contractors that can help them complete the various rehab projects. Interested companies can give the CRA a call at (863) 421-3600 x5375 or email at crainfo@hainescity.com.

The city is currently accepting applications and there's no deadline. They're only two weeks in to the new program and have already received close to 60 applications.

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