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Item No. 15 <br />TO: Mayor, Mayor Pro -Tem & City Council <br />Grayson Path, City Manager <br />FROM: Stephanie H. Harris, City Attorney <br />SUBJECT: Acceptance of Donation from the RAM and Cecil Foundations for use in the <br />HOME Programs <br />DATE: December 13, 2021 <br />BACKGROUND: As you will recall, the city has been participating in the Homeowner <br />Reconstruction Assistance (HRA) program for several years, a state program for the following: <br />1. Reconstruction of owner -occupied housing on the same site; <br />2. New Construction of site -built housing on the same site to replace an existing owner <br />occupied Manufactured Housing Unit (MHU); <br />3. Replacement and relocation of existing housing located in a floodplain to a new MHU or <br />New Construction of housing on an alternative site; and <br />4. New Construction or a new MHU to replace a housing unit that has become <br />uninhabitable as a result of disaster or condemnation by local government. <br />(You may be more familiar with the term HOME program, which is an umbrella term for various <br />housing assistance programs, including HRA and Homeowner Assistance for New Construction <br />((HANG)) which provides mortgage financing to low-income homebuyers for the following <br />activities: acquisition and/or New Construction of site -built housing; acquisition and/or placement <br />of a new Manufactured Housing Unit (MHU); and acquisition and/or Rehabilitation of housing to <br />be occupied by the homebuyer. The state has not implemented the HANC program at this time.) <br />The RAM Foundation and the Cecil Foundation, local charities, have undertaken initiatives to <br />assist with low-income housing projects within the City of Paris. To that end, RAM has set aside <br />the sum of $300,000.00 to donate to the city for use in the HOME programs. RAM has set aside <br />an additional $200,000.00 to be administered by the United Way of Lamar County to provide <br />assistance to qualifying homeowners for the payment of back taxes, title insurance, and attorneys' <br />fees for those participating in the programs. In addition, the Cecil Foundation has agreed to donate <br />