The Pine Bluff City Council voted 8-0 Monday to increase the cap from $75,000 to $150,000 on a home buyer assistance program.
The Pine Bluff Economic and Community Development Department administers the home buyer assistance program. It helps low-to-moderate income families and other people who want to buy a home on the open market, a Housing and Urban Development-repossessed house or one up for sale by the owner.
Housing and Urban Development must approve the measure in order for it to take effect.
Alderman Glen Brown Sr. said the measure means more people will be able to apply for an affordable home.
“It is due to the rise in housing costs,” Glen Brown Sr. said. “I do not think it will get to $150,000.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Alderman Glen Brown Jr. said the measure widens the pool of homes for which people are eligible.
To qualify for the program, a person must meet certain guidelines set forth by Housing and Urban Development and the city. One guideline requires a person to have a gross annual income of no more than 80 percent of the median income for Pine Bluff.
In other news, the council voted 8-0 to approve an ordinance to allow for the temporary placement of mobile offices to be set up in Pine Bluff under certain circumstances. The measure allows for mobile offices to be set up to house representatives of insurance companies, governments, housing agencies and construction companies.
The ordinance permits those offices to start on the date of a disaster declaration and remain for 90 days. The declaration of a disaster must come from the American president or Arkansas governor.
“Residents are ready to go because of this flood,” Alderman Charles Boyd said. “This ordinance came up before Mother Nature dropped this [current] flood on us.”
In other business, the council took the following actions:
*did not vote on a proposed resolution that would recognize the Pine Bluff High School Zebras football team for winning the Arkansas 6A state championship. The Zebras defeated Greenwood 28-21 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock under Coach Bobby Bolding. Alderman Bill Brumett tabled the measure for a second straight meeting because the team had not been invited to the meeting.
* voted 8-0 to transfer $70,000 from rental housing to reconstruction/rehab.