Housing Rehabilitation

Davida Washington, Program Administrator
Phone: 410-632-1200 (ext. 1171)
Fax 410-632-3008
dwashington@co.worcester.md.us

The Worcester County Housing Rehabilitation Program is administered through the Worcester County Department of Development, Review and Permitting. This program provides grants and loan funding to owner occupied properties for general rehabilitation and lead abatement services. The Special Loans Rehabilitation Application is utilized for all grant and loan programs and may be downloaded below. The following is some general information on available funding:

Special Loans Rehabilitation Application

The Worcester County Housing Rehabilitation Program is administered through the Worcester County Department of Development, Review and Permitting. This program provides grant and loan funding to  owner occupied properties for general rehabilitation and lead abatement services. The Special Loans application is utilized for all grant and loan programs and may be downloaded from this site. Following is some general information on available funding; if you would like more information on this program, or need assistance with the application forms; please contact Davida Washington at 410-632-1200, ext. 1171.

Owner Occupied Housing

Grants:

General Rehabilitation

• Homes may only be assisted once with grant funding

• Current or retired Worcester County employees, their immediate families or individuals holding contracts to do business with Worcester County are generally ineligible for grant assistance

• Mobile homes are not eligible unless they are secured on a permanent block or brick foundation and are not located in a mobile home park

• The homeowner must occupy the dwelling as his or her principal residence and may not own other houses/properties.

• The dwelling must have existing conditions that do not meet the County's Minimum Livability Code; all items must be brought up to code at completion of rehabilitation work.

• Homeowner must be willing to accept loan funding to supplement the grant award as necessary to meet the minimum code requirements.

• Homeowner must have acceptable credit or be willing to set up payment plans on any non-medical accounts in Collections. Judgments must be paid in full.

• Property taxes must be paid in full at time of application

• Priority is given to Senior Citizens, the Disabled and families with extremely low income and to houses with safety and/or health hazards.

• Grant terms are 5-15 years; no payment due back to County unless the property is sold or refinanced during the grant period. Grants are secured with a recorded property lien.

 

Lead Abatement

• The homeowner must occupy the dwelling as his or her principal residence and may not own other houses/properties.

• The family must be of extremely low income or have insufficient funds to make loan payments or the cost of lead abatement must exceed the assessed value of the dwelling.

• Home must be in an eligible census tract.

• House must be structurally sound.

• No minimum grant term, no repayment required if house is sold or refinanced 10% match required if family income is over 80% of the median.

 

Loans:

• Home may be rural or in any incorporated township of Worcester County.

• Priority is given to dwellings having existing conditions that do not meet the County Minimum Livability Code; however, up to 40% of the work may be cosmetic in nature. All items must be brought up to code at the completion of rehabilitation work.

• Mobile homes are not eligible unless they are secured on a permanent block or brick foundation and are not located in a mobile home park

• The family must be of low to moderate income.

• Homeowner must have acceptable credit or be willing to set up payment plans on any non-medical accounts in Collections. Judgments must be paid in full.

• Interest rates are between 0% and 7%. Payments are scaled to family's ability to re-pay, loans may be completely deferred. Full loan balance due back to the State when property is sold. Full balance may be due if property is otherwise transferred or re-financed. 

 

Rental Housing- no programs are providing funding for rental units at this time

OTHER HOUSING RESOURCES:

Salisbury Neighborhood Housing Services offers the following services to Worcester County residents: budget and credit counseling, foreclosure counseling, homebuyers education classes and post-purchase workshops. For more information, please access the SNHS website at  https://www.salisburynhs.org/