Jim Wells County hosts Section 504 home repair assistance session

A strong turnout at the Jim Wells County Fairgrounds showed how many homeowners in Alice and across the county are looking for help with roofs, unsafe wiring, accessibility fixes and other repairs that can become emergencies when budgets are tight. The April 22 Section 504 Home Repair Program session gave residents a clear path to federal rural-development aid that can keep older homes livable without forcing families into unmanageable debt.

The county flyer said the program offers loans to very-low-income homeowners to repair, improve or modernize homes, and grants to elderly very-low-income homeowners to remove health and safety hazards. The maximum loan is $40,000, the maximum grant is $10,000, and the two can be combined for as much as $50,000 in assistance. For households facing a damaged roof, a failing floor or a barrier that makes a home hard to use safely, those numbers can mean the difference between staying put and falling behind.

USDA Rural Development says Section 504 applications are accepted year-round through local Rural Development offices. Loans carry a fixed 1% interest rate and a 20-year term, while homeowners age 62 and older may qualify for grants that generally do not have to be repaid unless the property is sold within three years. In presidentially declared disaster areas, the maximum grant rises to $15,000 and combined loan-and-grant assistance can reach $55,000.

Jim Wells County’s housing profile helps explain the interest. The county had 38,891 residents in the 2020 Census, covers 865.2 square miles of land, and had an estimated median household income of $52,719 in 2024. The estimated median house or condo value was $136,404, and about 80% of residents are Hispanic or Latino. In a county with many older homes and modest incomes, even basic repairs can compete with rent, groceries and medical bills.

The local outreach also underscored how close the help is. USDA Rural Development lists an Alice Area Office at 711 East Main Street in Alice, serving Jim Wells County and neighboring South Texas counties. The county flyer identified Ann Marie Torres, Community & Economic Development with Jim Wells County Extension, as the contact for questions at (936) 261-5764, cell or text at (361) 877-7959, and amtorres@pvamu.edu. The session at 3001 S. Johnson St. was aimed at making the application process less intimidating for homeowners who may not realize federal repair aid is already available in their own county.