Home repairs continue

By Liz McMahan
Assistant City Editor

July 14, 2008 12:00 am

— It wasn’t that Ricky Walker didn’t want to make repairs to his house at 319 N. 11th St.
He makes enough as a cook at a local restaurant that he might have been able to make the payments on a bank loan.
That “might” bothered him.
“We were going to have to get a loan against our house and the way they’re taking people’s houses these days, you miss one payment and you’ve lost your home,” he said.
Instead, Walker signed up for assistance under the city’s housing rehabilitation program.
The program provides grants of up to $20,000 to home owners in the city’s older neighborhoods for exterior repairs: roofs, painting or siding, foundation or structural repairs, replacement of doors and windows, weatherization and, in some cases, driveways.
The program began one year ago, and repairs have been completed or are in progress on 72 homes, said Gary Garvin, city planner. There have been 134 applications received, and 124 of those have been approved.
The $1.1 million spent to date came from the city’s collection of use tax — sales taxes collected on goods purchased out of state and used in the city. Use tax funds also are used for demolition of vacant, derelict structures, Garvin said.
Under the program, the older parts of the city were divided into 10 areas, with areas 1 and 2, those immediately east and west of downtown, the first to be served. Those areas also will be the first to be closed, with no more applications to be taken after Tuesday, Garvin said.
Areas 5 and 6 will open for application Tuesday, Garvin said. Area 5 is north of downtown, bounded on the south by Martin Luther King/Fredonia streets, on the north by Tamaroa/Eufaula streets; on the east by K Street and on the west by Fourth Street. Area 6 is south of Elgin Street and bounded on the west by Junction Street and on the east by Main Street.
Walker, 55, said he is very proud of the improvements made at his home.
“We’re blessed by God to get it done,” he said. “Everybody on our block says ‘Man, it looks like you got a new home.’”
He feels like it is a new home. The roof on the house was literally falling in. So was the front porch.
Both have been replaced. Several of the windows on the back porch have been closed off. The house has been wrapped in insulation and siding that makes it warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer inside.
Mae Collins, 314 N. 14th St., also said she was very glad to be approved for one of the grants. The roof has been replaced, and work has begun on putting in new windows and siding on her home.
“I could never have afforded it,” Collins said. “The windows were terrible. They were old and just not in good shape. The air was coming in. My garage door had just been patched and patched. They replaced it too.”
Collins, like others participating in the program, will not have to pay back any of the repair costs as long as they live in the house for another five years, Garvin said.

Requirements for participation

• House must be in one of the targeted areas that is open.
• House must be owner-occupied.
• Owners must meet income guidelines, ranging from a maximum income of $23,850 for one person to $34,100 for four persons.
• The outside of the property must be clean and well maintained.
• The city may reject an application if the cost to repair the structure exceeds the appraised value of the house.

To learn more

For guidelines and to download applications for the city’s housing rehabilitation program, go to www.cityofmuskogee.com. On the left, click on city departments, then planning office, and then housing program.
For information: Planning Department, 684-6232.

Reach Liz McMahan at 918-684-2926 orClick Here to Send Email

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