Nonprofit and county officials outline colonia self-help housing program and ask to reallocate funds for repairs

Rob Stevenson, a representative of Equity Community Development Corporation, told the Willacy County Commissioners Court the colonia self-help program is a HUD block-grant initiative administered through the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs that focuses on housing rehabilitation and reconstruction in border communities. He said typical program contracts are roughly $1,000,000 and run about four years, allowing continuity of services across funding cycles. Stevenson described recent work in the valley, including manufactured-housing replacements and accessibility modifications such as wheelchair ramps and parking pads for disabled residents.

"The basics starting program is approximately $1,000,000 per contract, and you get about 4 years to finish every contract," Stevenson said, describing the funding cadence and the program's intent to avoid interruptions in services.

Stevenson showed photos of demolished dilapidated mobile homes and Energy Star certified manufactured units built as replacements. He explained that state limits make produced manufactured homes a practical option because the $100,000 per-unit state allotment is typically insufficient to build site-built homes that meet all state requirements. He also described complementary grants for barrier-removal (up to $20,000) to make homes accessible for elderly or disabled residents.

David Tomlinson, director of planning and development for Cameron County who joined the presentation, thanked the court for the local partnership and invited commissioners to a follow-up presentation next week in Cameron County. Commissioners asked whether smaller communities could be included among the state's five designated colonias and whether infrastructure constraints (water, wastewater) would affect eligibility. Stevenson said the program cannot fund large-scale public infrastructure (for example, water mains or water towers) but can fund yard lines and septic systems where appropriate, and that communities already having basic services are better candidates.

Stevenson said the organization is partly two-thirds through a $1,000,000 contract and has approximately $215,000 remaining; he asked the court's permission to move some remaining reconstruction funds into rehabilitation so the program could rehabilitate several more homes in Sebastian rather than build only one additional manufactured home. He also noted an $800,000 contract recently awarded with $600,000 allocated to reconstruction and mentioned that the Housing Finance Corporation of Cameron County had offered matching funds that are restricted to use in Cameron County, limiting their benefit to Willacy County unless other sources are found.

The court asked staff to clarify which residential areas qualify as colonias and to provide more details for the commissioners to consider possible selection of additional communities. The judge thanked the presenters and indicated the court would follow up on clarifying eligible areas and potential fund reallocation.