Columbus has formed a housing revitalization district for a federally-funded grant program that should soon begin.

The city council last week approved creating Housing Revitalization District 1, where the city could spend up to $255,000 repairing owner-occupied homes in need.

Director of City Planning and Community Development Christina Berry said the city applied through Renasant Bank for money from the Federal Home Loan Bank to help qualifying homeowners within the district improve their homes.

Housing Revitalization District 1 ends at Columbus’ western city limits. The southern border stretches from west city limits to 22nd Street South. From there, the district’s east border extends north to Highway 82. The northern edge of the district follows Highway 82 to west city limits.

Berry said the district, per program regulations, is in a census tract that contains very low-to-moderate income households. The home improvement project will be geared toward offering repairs to people who earn less than the city’s median income — which is $29,335 annually, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — and who can’t afford them otherwise.

“Our goal is to rehabilitate housing that really has some hazardous issues going on with it,” she said. “It may be the roof. It may be the electricity — things that deal with plumbing and with health and safety.

“That’s our priority,” she added. “We want to make sure people are living in safe and decent housing.”

Berry said the program will use $105,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank, in addition to $150,000 the city has in reserves from an old, similar project.

George Irby, the city’s assistant director for community development, said the former program, called Emergency Repair, allowed the city to spend up to $10,000 per-home to repair similar problems for elderly or disabled homeowners.

Irby said the program was generally successful, though homes often needed more than $10,000 worth of work.

With the new round of funding, Irby said the city should be able to address about 15 homes for $17,000 apiece.

Berry said the city is waiting to finalize the grant contract before it can begin the program. She said she hopes projects can begin by Oct. 1.

She said interested people can leave their names and addresses with Loria Porter, at 662-245-5058.

Irby said 20 to 25 people have already inquired about the program. More applications and inquiries are likely, but he said he doesn’t think the city will be overwhelmed with applicants.

“A reason I don’t think we’re going to be bombarded is that the majority of homes in that area are rental properties that aren’t going to qualify,” he said. “The owned ones — a lot of the homes have been repaired or are vacant. There’s not many, if you want to meet those criteria of owner-occupied, elderly that need work.”

Irby said the city will begin taking applications and inspecting homes after the grant contract is finalized.

Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.