Tornado-related housing fund in Joplin winding down

JOPLIN, Mo. -- A Joplin program designed to help low- and moderate-income residents buy homes after the May 2011 tornado has helped 450 people buy homes, with another 138 approved.

The program, called the Joplin Homebuyers Assistance Program, or J-HAP, is down to about $1.55 million, enough to buy another 50 homes, J-HAP project coordinator Patty Heagel said.

The program received $12.75 million of the city's $158 million in the federal Community Development Block Grant disaster-recovery funding when it began in August 2013. The city council last year added $7 million because of the high number of applicants.

Heagel told the city council last week the city will begin taking applications for the remaining money today, and a waiting list will be kept until the money is gone.

"The benefit of this program has been huge," Heagel said, adding benefits such as buying building materials and payment for construction workers was an estimated $47.5 million.

The J-HAP program provides eligible applicants up to $30,000 toward the down payment and costs of buying or building a house. The tornado, which killed 161 people, destroyed 4,000 homes, said Troy Bolander, the city's planning and development director. City officials started the fund to help replace those homes and bring residents back to the storm zone.

"Some of the destruction occurred in our challenged neighborhoods," Bolander said. "Some were worth $50,000 to $60,000 because of age and condition. You just can't build back a housing stock at that price."

One of the beneficiaries is Matt Monroe, who currently lives with his partner in Webb City. The J-HAP program will help them build a house near Monroe's parents near the tornado zone, reducing the house payment by $200 to $300 a month.

"That really was the deciding factor of us buying a home because we did not want to pay more money than we were paying in rent. That way, we were able to keep the mortgage payment below rent, and we are able to build equity. We're extremely grateful for the J-HAP program," he said.