Hollister
– Mary Solorio has lived in her home on San Juan Drive for
nearly four decades, and that time took a toll on the house’s
condition.
Hollister – Mary Solorio has lived in her home on San Juan Drive for nearly four decades, and that time took a toll on the house’s condition.
A year ago, said Solorio, 71, her fence was in such bad shape she had to prop it up with stakes, and her single-paned windows were so thin they rattled whenever a car drove by.
“It sounded like they were going to break,” Solorio recalled.
Then her cousin Richard told her the city might be able to help.
Solorio – who emphasized that she’s “Miss Mary Solorio,” not to be confused with the married Hollister resident of the same name – put in a loan application in February. It was, she said, an easy process with minimal paperwork. By May, building contractor Robert Postigo Construction had started work on her home.
As he surveyed the house, Postigo told Solorio she needed new windows. She responded, “Whatever, as long as you fix the fence. The fence is my priority.”
Well, they fixed her fence, her windows and her faucet. They also gave the house a fresh paint job.
“I’m very happy with everything,” Solorio said.
Local homeowners are being offered an opportunity to make similar improvements. The city has $250,000 in low-interest housing rehabilitation loans to give out next year, and applications are due on Dec. 22. The program’s emphasis, according to the city’s application form, is to repair residential health and safety problems.
In order to qualify for the loans, applicants must be single-family homeowners who reside in Hollister and whose household income is no more than 80 percent of the median, adjusted for family size.
The current maximum loan is $50,000. Payment of the loan is deferred until the property is sold, refinanced or transferred to a new owner. Jeff Pyle, the city’s economic development director, has said a typical housing loan is between $15,000 and $20,000.
Bill Avera, who heads the city’s redevelopment agency, said the loan applications often outweigh the available funds. If that happens this year, Avera said, the city will put all the qualified candidates’ names into a pile and then select them by lottery.
The money currently up for grabs comes from the federal Community Development Block Grant program. Earlier this year, Pyle announced that the city had an unexpected $1 million in CDBG funds from the repayment of rehabilitation loans. According to Pyle, the city needs to spend that money before it can receive more.
The loans can be used to make all kinds of repairs and improvements, but Avera noted, “We see if there’s anything else we can do on the back end, but we won’t sacrifice safety.”
He added, “We like to leave the house looking like we’ve been there.”
Solorio, for her part, said her new double-paned windows make it clear that her home has been improved.
“Oh, I can tell,” she said. “The noises aren’t as strong as before. … If it wasn’t for the loan, things wouldn’t have gotten fixed for a long time.”
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at (831) 637-5566 ext. 330 or
ah*@fr***********.com
.
