HOME Program Makes Affordable Housing Development Possible

Representatives from HUD and Utah Congressional Offices meet with developer to tour Stratford Apartments

After a fire destroyed the building in 2005, The La Porte Group, a non-profit developer of affordable housing, rebuilt the Stratford Apartments. HUD Deputy Regional Administrator Dan Gomez Jr., Field Office Director Kelly Jorgensen and representatives from Senator Lee and Senator Hatch's offices met with Ben Louge, President of the La Porte Group to tour the Stratford Apartments on June 23, 2011.

To accomplish the reconstruction, the La Porte Group used funding from HUD's HOME program. They also used low income tax credits, historic tax credits, and a number of grants from state and local governments. Because the building included innovative use of solar panels to reduce utility costs for tenants, it also received solar energy tax credits.

Group Tours Stratford Apartments

Ben Logue, President of the La Porte Group explained that as a non-profit developer working to build affordable housing for low income Utahan's, every dollar matters. Developers work with a tight budget. Programs like HUD's HOME program can make the difference in being able to make a project become a reality or remain only a dream. HUD's HOME program makes affordable housing possible for low income people. It rebuilds neighborhoods and eliminates urban blight.

HOME provides formula grants to states and localities that communities use in partnership with local nonprofit groups. They fund a wide range of activities that build, buy, and/or rehabilitate affordable housing for rent or homeownership.

HOME can also be used for tenant based rental assistance for low-income people to meet their rent obligations.

HOME is the largest Federal block grant to state and local governments designed exclusively to create affordable housing for low-income households. The program's flexibility allows states and local governments to use HOME funds for grants, direct loans, loan guarantees or other forms of credit enhancement, or rental assistance or security deposits.