Habitat for Humanity offering home repair grant program for Huron County residents

Habitat for Humanity’s Lapeer-Tuscola branch is once again helping residents in Huron County with housing needs.

For the eighth consecutive year, the nonprofit organization is offering its Critical Home Repair Grant Program up to $7,500, with the help of Bay Port State Bank, offering Huron County residents repairs for homes in critical condition to make them liveable.

“This helps fulfill our core mission,” said Critical Home Repair Coordinator John Kulczyckyj. “We want to keep the community together and stable and help keep people in their homes.”

Applications for the grant program are available for any residents of Huron, Tuscola, and Lapeer counties, but they must qualify by income by family size.

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The grant covers repairs such as roofs, windows, furnaces, hot water tanks, installation, well and septic tanks, and doors.

Huron County residents wanting to apply must own the property they want to be fixed and also attend one of the two meetings about the program. The first will be on Jan. 31 at the Pigeon Library from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and the second on Feb. 2 at the Franklin Inn in Bad Axe from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. At the meetings, residents can learn how the program works and get more information about how to get involved.

Tuscola County residents looking to seek more information can attend one of two meetings at the Caro Habitat for Humanity Restore at 1521 W. Caro Rd on Jan. 25 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. or Jan. 30 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 

Habitat for Humanity has used the program to repair 50 to 60 houses across the three counties. The program is a multi-month process designed for homes in critical condition, selecting award recipients at the end of April, and the beginning of May.  Local contractors from the area help conduct the repairs once approved for the grant.

“We want to help wherever we can,” Executive Director of the Lapeer-Tuscola branch Carolyn Nestor said.

In the last seven years of the program, the non-profit organization has helped hundreds of people, and in the last three years of holding the program for Huron County, helped repair 15 houses. The organization receives not a dime from the program, as the money goes towards the local contractors helping with the repairs.

“People have many things to deal with and they sometimes just don’t have the ability to save,” Nestor said. “When it’s completed, (residents) are so relieved. They can breathe again. It really revolutionizes their lives.”

To apply, residents must submit a multitude of official documents including house deeds, bank statements, state tax information, and social security. During the meetings, Habitat workers will help assist residents with the application process.

“We want to help keep people in their homes and make the community great and safe,” Kulczykyj said.

Residents with questions regarding the meetings and all other information can contact the Lapeer-Tuscola branch at 810-664-7111 or their Facebook page.