BY FLORENCE GILKESON

Senior Writer

Rocks and paper jam the space between the bottom of the door and the door frame in one home.

Showers of sparks fly out from electrical sockets or breaker boxes in another, and the roof penetrates the ceiling in one room in a third house.

These examples of housing needs are all found in affluent Moore County.

"We have patched and replaced roofs, installed ramps, installed heat pumps, repaired and replaced floors, plumbing and electrical ... the list is long," says Tim Emmert, community development planner.

Emmert is the man who applies for federal grants to fix up dilapidated homes and administers the program once the county wins the grant.

In a county accented by lush golf courses and horse farms, many are surprised to learn just how many people live in substandard housing and don't have the financial means to make repairs.

The Moore County Department of Planning and Community Development maintains a mailing list of 340 names and addresses, serving 757 individuals. The people on this waiting list are homeowners and taxpayers, not renters. The homes are in municipalities and unincorporated areas.

'The Most Pressing Threats'

At the request of Commissioner Craig Kennedy, Emmert recently made a detailed presentation to the Moore County Board of Commissioners on just how the program works.

Community Development Block Grants are federal money awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and channeled directly to communities through the N.C. Department of Commerce. That means that Emmert and the planning department must deal with a double dose of bureaucracy in filing the grant applications and then carrying out the program.

Emmert says the effort is worth it.

"It keeps low-income homeowners in safe, healthy housing," he says.

Most of the rehabilitation work is accomplished for $5,000 or less.

"In those situations we assess the condition of the home and attempt to find the most pressing threats to health and safety," Emmert says.

Among the needs at the top of the list is replacement of electrical systems, many of which are so old that they pose a serious fire danger. Roofing is regularly either repaired or replaced because roofs are expensive and, if not properly maintained, can result in damage to other aspects of the house.

In other houses a heat pump had to be installed and homeowners educated about how to use the pump both for heating and cooling purposes. Everyone is encouraged to secure a second method of heating in addition to the pump.

Grants are used to replace a lot of doors and to repair windows.

"We find doors that are not a perfect fit, are mis-hung or do not have locking mechanisms that work," Emmert says. "It is rare that we recommend installing new windows."

In the homes of the elderly a common service is installation of grab bars in the bathroom or construction of a ramp.

Emmert says that sometimes funding is available for projects costing more than $5,000. When that happens, the program addresses multiple systems in one home.

To qualify for housing rehabilitation service, applicants must meet income guidelines set by HUD and based on a percentage of an area's estimated median family income. In 2010 Moore County's median family income was $61,600 annually for a family of four.

Requirements differ according to program. For the 2009 Scattered Site Housing CDBG, 100 percent of the recipients were required to have incomes classified as "very low" or lower. For the 2010 Urgent Repair Program, 70 percent must have incomes that are "very low" and the remaining 30 percent may have "low income."

Moore County's maximum household income classified as "very low" ranges from $21,600 a year for one person to $30,800 annually for a family of four. Median monthly income is $1,064, or $12,768 annually. The Department of Health and Human Services places the poverty threshold for a single person at $10,890 and for a family of four at $22,350.

Most applicants are elderly, many of whom worked in domestic jobs and receive minimum Social Security payments. Emmert's statistics show that their average age is 64 and 46 percent are disabled.

Stringent research on each applicant is required, and that's part of Emmert's job. First, a title search is carried out to make sure the owner holds clear title to the program. That's to make sure the house is not owned by wealthy out of town relatives or is tied up in a deed to heirs.

The applicant must be free of liens, judgments, and bankruptcies and must be paid up on property taxes. Reverse mortgages are not allowed. A criminal background check is made.

If the house has historical value or sits on a floodplain, then special permission is required.

Applicants Ranked

A selection committee ranks applicants, and the top ones are then reviewed to determine their qualifications. Committee members include representatives of local governments and nonprofits and some past recipients.

Once the grant is approved and the qualified applicants identified, a contract must be awarded to the low bidder. This is another complex bureaucratic process involving much federal red tape.

Emmert says his program works in partnership with a number of communities, agencies and nonprofits that cannot operate housing programs on their own.

These partners include the towns of Aberdeen and Carthage, Southern Pines Housing Authority, Moore County Department of Social Services, the Moore County school system, the Senior Enrichment Center and the Veterans Affairs Office.

Other partners are Family Promise, Coalition for Human Care, Habitat for Humanity, Northern Moore Family Resource Center, UNC Center on Civil Rights, Jackson Hamlet Community Association, Waynor Road Community Association, Addor community (various groups), St. Joseph of the Pines, Meals on Wheels, FirstHealth, ARC of Moore County, Sandhills LME (local management entity for mental health and related services), MANNA (Moore Alliance Nourishing Neighbors, Amen), Food Bank, Salvation Army, USDA (Sanford office), and Cumberland Community Action Program.

CDBGs come in all forms and all sizes. Grants range from less than $100,000 to several hundred thousand, depending on the project.

Among the recent grants is $600,000 to repair a road washed out by torrential rains accompanying Tropical Storm Hanna two years ago. The road is the only access to public roads for residents of the River Bend development near Vass.

Contact Florence Gilkeson at florence@thepilot.com.