By Turi Trainor
Jacqueline A. Davis has lived in her 19th century home on Fuller Street for over 60 years. During much of that time, the house had been a gathering place for family reunions.
“We would be out in the yard and have a great time,” said Davis, 77. “People, our family, would come from all over and just have fun.”
But it’s been hard to keep up with maintenance on the house, built in 1877. She said it has been in need of repairs for at least 30 years.
Now, a new city program is offering financial assistance to homeowners like Davis. The Homeowner Helper Program is designed to assist residents with the upkeep of their homes, while also helping to preserve local history and address the city’s housing shortage.
“We just know that some folks aren’t able to keep up with the maintenance of their houses,” planning director Arne Glaeser said. “Particularly because we have so many older houses.”
Lexington’s Threshold Housing Commission has approved four applications to the program, which started accepting applications in January. Now, the applications will go to the Lexington Economic Development Authority for funding approval.
If they get the green light, the residents would receive a 0% interest loan. Though the loans will be to the homeowners, the money won’t actually be paid to them. Instead, the planning department will coordinate with pre-selected contractors to make the approved repairs. The city has a total of $250,000 to give out through the program this year.
“Now our aunts or sisters can come and feel welcome in this space again,” Ellis O. Henderson said. “It’s a family home.”
Davis’ application includes requests for two bathroom remodels, ceiling, window and door repairs, foundation support, kitchen improvements, a new metal roof, and other fixes.
Glaeser said one bathroom remodel, a new back door and bathroom door, and foundation support were the items approved from Davis’ application. All of her requested repairs were projected to cost almost $150,000. Glaeser said that was too much funding for one house, so the commission had to prioritize the most important repairs.
“Things that are unsafe and unhealthy are the main priority for this,” Glaeser said.
The commission then decides how funding is allocated through a three-tiered scoring system. Top priority homes are those identified as having unsafe or unhealthy conditions, or circumstances that pose an immediate risk.
The second category involves assessing a home’s exterior.
“Because we’re taking community money and putting it into houses, we’re prioritizing, to some degree, things that you can see on the exterior,” Glaeser said.
The third category takes into consideration factors like the homeowner’s age, if they have a disability, or if they are a veteran.
For Davis and her family, the impact of these repairs is personal. Her home was left to her by her great-grandmother.
“Getting these repairs allows her to remove a burden off of her that she was letting her grandmother down in terms of the look of the house,” said Davis’ son, Ellis O. Henderson.
He said these repairs will bring peace, joy, comfort and relief.
“Now our aunts or sisters can come and feel welcome in this space again,” Henderson said. “It’s a family home.”
Program helps conserve Lexington history
Clifford Kiracofe, another applicant to the program, has different motivations for applying: He wants to complete a renovation project and preserve Lexington history.
Kiracofe said his property was part of the Lexington tannery, which tanned leather after the Civil War. The house was bought at auction in 1942 and used as two rental units. Kiracofe bought the house, which sits on Parry Lane, in 2002.
“It was kind of old and falling down,” Kiracofe said. “I decided to buy it with the view that we have to completely renovate the place because it was a complete mess.”
During the renovation process, Kiracofe discovered that the foundation of the house was built on cedar logs that were no longer stable. He had to build a new foundation, which was expensive.
“That kind of interfered with my budget because I was going to use that money to paint the house,” Kiracofe said.
Since then, Kiracofe has not been able to finish painting the house. He said he heard about the new repair program through friends.
“It was a good idea for me because I’m retired, and as most seniors are, on a limited income,” Kiracofe said.
His application to the program requests funding for new paint and a few minor carpentry fixes.
“I painted some of it over the years, but I’m not going to get up on tall ladders at my age,” Kiracofe said. “And it’s expensive to paint a house.”
There were attempts to tear down the house in past years, Kiracofe said, but he is glad to help preserve the history of the street—one of two streets in Lexington named after an African-American family.
“For me, the main point was to save the house, save the historic aspect of the street,” Kiracofe said. “I feel really good about that.”
Preserves city housing supply
Protecting city history isn’t the only goal of the program. Lexington City Council member Nick Betts said it’s also a way to help improve the city’s housing stock.
“We’re trying to approach the lack of housing in general through various approaches,” Betts said. “One way is trying to preserve the existing housing stock through the Homeowner Helper Program.”
Applications opened on Jan. 15 and closed on March 1. But Betts said the program is going to continue accepting applications without a guarantee of funding until they have received $250,000 in applications.
The commission has already received a fifth application. But Glaeser said the priority is to complete the projects from the first four applications before considering that application. He said he hopes the projects can begin this summer, but he is unsure.
“This is the first time we’ve done this, so it’s a little bit of a guess on how long it’s going to take to get through those four,” Glaeser said.