The USDA offers rural home repair grants for senior citizens.
Rural America accounts for 75 percent of the country's land. Approximately 50 million people live throughout the nation's 2,000 rural counties, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. Rural homeowners who need help making repairs to their houses can obtain a USDA government grant to pay for materials and/or labor by meeting certain requirements. Does this Spark an idea?
USDA Section 504 Grant
The USDA offers low-income senior homeowner-occupants up to $7,500 to make repairs on their rural houses, including manufactured homes. A part of the Very Low-Income Housing Repair program, the grant is only available to those 62 or older with income less than 50 percent of their area median income. Eligible homeowners must be unable to obtain affordable credit for the repairs elsewhere, hold full title and a mortgage on the property, the USDA says. Grant funds must only pay for repairs and improvements that remove health and safety hazards from the home. The USDA offers a grant/loan combination to applicants who can afford to repay part of the repair costs. All work completed must meet local codes and standards. Homeowners who sell the home within three years of receiving the grant must repay the USDA.
Application Process
Applicants must contact the rural development office in their area, as local governments disburse grant funds to homeowners, not the USDA. At least one applicant in the household must meet the minimum qualifying age. The office will consult with a HUD-approved counselor at the nonprofit's or local housing authority's office to determine eligibility. The counselor will then send an inspector to the property to determine whether repairs are health- and safety-related, Bankrate.com says.
Property Requirements
A property free of health and safety hazards may qualify for Section 504 grant funds if the senior homeowner needs to remodel in order to make the home accessible and usable for a disabled household member, according to the USDA program handbook. The grant fund need not remove all health and safety hazards, but should remove the major ones and cannot be used on a property that will continue to have major hazards after work is complete. For a list of all grant restrictions, see the USDA handbook. A homeowners may use funds to repair a mobile or manufactured home as long as he owns the home and the site it occupies and the unit meets minimum standards for construction and safety. The grant can be used for improvement of the residential structure on income-producing land or structures. Repairs must comply with local building and safety codes.
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