Waco offers renovation, lead paint assistance to homeowners

Waco Tribune-Herald
Kourtney David
Januray 16, 2024

Homeowner Eddie Bell said his house in the North East Riverside neighborhood where he lives with his two sons has been passed down through many generations.

He plans to continue the tradition, and recent renovations made possible by a $90,000 grant from the city ensure the 100-year-old home is a springboard for the school-age boys’ future.

The city of Waco is providing loans to homeowners in need of home rehabilitation and lead abatement assistance. Waco Housing Director Galen Price said the average project receives some $60,000 via the city’s multiple federal funding sources, and at least 10 projects are set to be completed early in 2024. The city has already completed 42 projects totaling about $1.6 million since 2021, Price said.

According to city council documents, Bell received some $90,200 from the city’s entitlement of Community Development Block Grant Program funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. His home received window replacement, sewer line replacement, new flooring, a fresh furnace, central air conditioning, bathroom accessibility upgrades, electrical rewiring, some lead abatement and various other repairs around the house.

“They did redo this whole floor,” Bell said, pointing to his clean hardwood flooring. “I mean, you could see straight through to the ground. They put all new wood here. That was a good thing … stuff that I could have never gotten done on my own.”

Separate from the $90,000 package Bell also received a new roof, totaling some $100,000 in renovations, he said.

Bell said he and his sons stayed in a hotel for about six weeks while their home was under renovation, but that was the worst part of the whole process. He said they also had to move all of their things out of the house, but that gave them an opportunity to do some decluttering, too.

“It’s a good restart for the boys,” Bell said.

The city uses several funding sources to assist homeowners, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program, which funded Bell’s repairs. Other mechanisms the city uses to assist homeowners include HUD’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program, Lead Hazard Control Grant and Healthy Homes Grant. It also allocated funding for the program from the city’s allotment of American Rescue Plan Act funding.

“We’re combining all potential funding sources that we have and kind of maximizing the amount of funding we can put into a project through those,” Price said.

Bell said he found out about the loan when he saw Waco’s cut of ARPA funding and wanted to know how he could benefit from the money allocated toward housing. He worked with Price to submit an application, which are accepted on a first come, first served basis, and was approved for funding.

Price said the income threshold for assistance is 80% of the area median income, or about $34,400. Individuals living in a qualified census tract are also eligible for funding based on their location alone, he said.

All of East Waco is in a qualified census tract, but renovation projects have not been confined to one area of the city, Price said.

“It’s really spread out over the city,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of rehabilitation in North and East Waco at this point. We’re starting to get more applications in South Waco really just because of the age of housing stock in the community. It’s all over.”

Bell’s construction bid was awarded to GTO Construction, a common choice for home rehabilitation projects due to the certification requirement to work with lead-based products. Lead abatement could include windows and windowsill replacement, exterior and interior painting, floors, doors, door casings and other sources of harmful lead paint, a product banned nationally in 1978.

Bell said the renovations, which have been complete for about six months, have been a huge stress reliever, “just to get everything you can think of done.” A business he used to run crumbled during the pandemic and repairs to his house were adding up while Bell, a single father, tried to make things work for his two sons.

The old window air conditioners were replaced in time for summer with a more efficient central unit, reducing Bell’s electricity bill from at least $300 a month to a more manageable price.

“So the convenience is the central air hits every room, and the cost is down,” Bell said. “… And it was really hot, 109 for a lot of days, so that made a big difference.”

A few houses along his street have also undergone recent renovations, and another few are being built nearby. Bell said he sees the increased value in the neighborhood as a good thing.

The bones of the 1922 home are still good, and renovations ensure Bell can pass it down again to his sons, he said.

“It means more … to the kids,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing. You know, Father Time catches up to us, then the kids will be here, so they’ll have a good start. That means a lot.”