Oroville offering low interest home improvement loans – Chico Enterprise-Record

OROVILLE — Homeowners within the city limits may qualify for low-interest repair loans through Oroville’s Housing Rehabilitation/Minor Home Repair Program.

“The program is for residents who don’t have the means to improve their housing through traditional funding means,” said Kaitlyn Lorson, city program analyst.

In 2021, the city received $750,000 through the California Development Block Grant Program to offer qualifying homeowners 3%  interest rate loans for “health and safety” home repairs. The CBDG program is funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

While the funds became available two years ago, Amy Bergstrand, director of business assistance/housing development, said no one has applied to take advantage of the minimal interest loans which can be used to pay for roof replacement or repair, plumbing and sewer repair, windows and flooring, water damage, structural wood damage, electrical repairs or updating, foundation problems, ADA upgrades as well as new heating and air conditioning systems among other things.

“We’ve done mass mailings to residents within the city limits and posted it on our Facebook page,” said Bergstrand. “But we think that that people still don’t really understand what these loans can be used for and how beneficial they could be.”

The loans are available to families earning up to 80% of the area’s household income based on the number of people in the family and all wage-earners gross incomes. Properties must be single-family, owner-occupied homes or duplexes in which one unit is owner occupied. Owners can’t own additional properties and must have no past due accounts or collections on their credit report. Three types of loans — deferred, interest only and fully amortized — are available depending on the applicant’s qualifications.

“There has to be equity in the home. We can’t lend more than what the house is worth,” said Bergstrand. “The loans are specifically for health and safety repairs but if the homeowner has a wish list of general repairs — new lighting, new counter tops, et cetera — 15% of the loan may be used for those things if there is enough left in the budget after the critical repairs are done.”

The loan process from application to start of construction can take “three to four months,” said Lorson. Following the completion and acceptance of the application, an appraisal is done of the property, a contractor hired by the city is sent out to evaluate the requested repairs and once all the this done and qualifications are verified, the project goes out for bid again and the homeowner chooses the contractor to complete the work.