Merced contracts with Habitat to rehabilitate 25 homes

The city of Merced will team with Habitat for Humanity of Stanislaus County after a unanimous vote by the Merced City Council at Monday’s meeting.

The council voted to use $500,000 in Department of Housing and Urban Development money to pay for the rehabilitation of 25 homes in Merced County.

Mayor Stan Thurston said Habitat’s experience with such work means it can stretch dollars further than the city could. “This appears to be really a lot of bang for the buck,” he said.

For a household to qualify for the rehabilitation program, the total income of all people living within the house must be less than 80 percent of the average median income for a Merced County household. According to the U.S. census, the median income in Merced County is $43,565.

Anita Hellam, the executive director of Stanislaus Habitat, said her organization rehabilitates about 50 homes a year in Stanislaus County. She said homeowners are expected to put 10 percent “sweat equity” into the home, which means the homeowners are involved in the manual labor.

She said sweat equity helps homeowners to better appreciate the upgrades.

Mark Hamilton, Merced’s housing program supervisor, said reaching out to homeowners has been difficult for city employees. He said residents are less likely to work with the city than they are with a nonprofit like Habitat.

He said the contract with Habitat will continue through June 30, 2015, and could be renewed for three years after that. He also said Stanislaus Habitat was the only nonprofit in the area qualified to carry out the rehabilitation projects.

At the same meeting, Merced City Council unanimously approved an amendment to the city’s 2014 HUD plan of more than $900,000.

The funding is related to housing rehabilitation as well as a water main project.

City staff chose the proposed water main replacement because of the age and poor quality of the water line, according to Hamilton.

The water main project at the intersection of T and Seventh streets is estimated to cost just under $600,000, records show. The replacement project was not included in the original 2014 HUD plan.

Hamilton said it is unclear when work will begin along those streets but said construction will cause some disruption to drivers.

He said the project falls under the requirements of HUD, as well as the city’s plans for its water drains. “We decided this was the best time to do this project,” he said.

This story was originally published November 3, 2014 at 9:14 PM with the headline "Merced contracts with Habitat to rehabilitate 25 homes."