By Debbie Robinson
news@joplinglobe.com
MIAMI, Okla. — Construction is expected to begin next week on a project spearheaded by the city to build houses for flood victims.
City, state and federal officials staged a ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday at the subdivision near 20th Avenue and N Street.
The city received a $160,000 Community Development Block Grant and a $400,000 Oklahoma Department of Commerce grant to buy the land and to install infrastructure for 20 homes. The first three homes are expected to be completed in about four months.
Other grant money was received for income-qualified homeowners to use for down payments, and low-interest loans were secured to help reduce the cost of each home.
The three-bedroom homes, valued at around $120,000, will be sold for $86,000 after loans and grant money are applied.
The first three houses that are to be built have been sold, and the three new homeowners attended Thursday’s event.
Brandi Garcia, 34, said she has been living in a trailer provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency since the flood last July.
The home that she shared with her two daughters had about 3 feet of water inside it. After insurance proceeds that retired her mortgage, she was left with $200.
Her advice to homeowners: “Insurance, insurance, insurance.”
In addition to her housing problem, her 80-year-old family business in Picher was destroyed by the May 10 tornado, she said. That company, Sayers Septic Tank Business, now operates out of a reqnted building in Miami.
Her mother’s home in Picher was destroyed, but the tornado spared the building in Picher where she was storing family keepsakes and other items salvaged from her flooded home.
“I feel like I’m lucky, because I only lost my home,” Garcia said.
Dick Lillard, chairman of the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency, applauded city leaders for jump-starting the housing project after the flood last summer destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes.
“We’re thrilled to see such progress made for residents who need it the most,” Lillard said.
His agency after the flood provided a $180,000 grant and loans with an interest rate of 1 percent. In November, his agency also approved $119,992 for the housing project.
Dennis Shockley, executive director of the Housing Finance Agency and a Joplin, Mo., native, said the agency next week will announce a new measure that will provide down-payment assistance.
“We’re all about helping rural Oklahoma get affordable housing in their communities,” Shockley said.
‘Just a start’
Jeaneene Landers is among the three new homeowners who attended the groundbreaking Thursday for a new housing development in Miami. She said that after floodwaters destroyed her home last summer, she didn’t know what she would do.
“I really believe this is just a start for the people in Miami,” she said. “We’re going to move on.”
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