Miami Gets Money For New Homes After Flooding

The city of <a href="http://www.miamiok.org/" target="_blank">Miami</a> is getting some financial help to move forward after devastating floods this past summer. The town has received $119,999 in HOME

Friday, November 30th 2007, 10:49 am

By: News On 6

The city of Miami is getting some financial help to move forward after devastating floods this past summer. The town has received $119,999 in HOME Grant funds to help build eight new homes in a city-sponsored affordable housing subdivision. The homes will be new three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes with two-car garages.

â€œThis grant is a very important element of our new home rebuilding program after the devastating flood of July 3, 2007,â€ said City Manager Michael L. Spurgeon. Miami lost 119 homes in the flood.

Flood victims will have first priority under the program. Applicants must have good credit and work history. The HOME Grant will be forgiven over a period of five years to income-qualified families. The grant includes a construction subsidy of $14,999 per home.

Some Miami homeowners with flood insurance discovered that the insurance paid off their existing mortgages with little or no equity remaining to buy a replacement house. The new homes will be built in a 20-unit housing subdivision finance with the cityâ€™s $400,000 Emergency Relief Grant recently obtained from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, allowing many families to move out of FEMA trailers.

The City of Miami has also applied for a $100,000 grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka to provide an added subsidy of $5,000 for families participating in the program. A decision on the grant application should come in late December.

Many of the 119 homes lost to the July flood would most likely not be rebuilt without some kind of housing assistance program, according to a release by the City of Miamiâ€™s Department of Community and Economic Development.

â€œIt is imperative that Miami do everything possible to disaster proof the community from future flooding,â€ said Mayor Brent Brassfield. All of the new homes will be built outside of the floodplain.

For more information about the grant program, call the City of Miami at (918) 541-2236.