Grant to Provide Critical Repairs to 12 Homes in Rural Mississippi

A $120,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grant from Community Bank of Mississippi and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) will fund the rehabilitation of 12 homes for elderly and special-needs families in rural Mississippi.

The George Greene Habitat for Humanity (Habitat) will use the funds to provide critical repairs such as ramp installation for disabled and elderly residents, roof repairs and HVAC upgrades.

“We’re a small, rural affiliate without a lot of funding options so these grants make a huge difference in our counties,” said Sue Trosclair, executive director at Habitat. “We depend on grants like the AHP for helping our residents live more comfortably.”

This is the second AHP grant the banks have awarded to Habitat, a nonprofit dedicated to providing safe, decent and affordable housing. To date, one home has been rehabilitated and the rest will be completed by the end of 2019.

“Community Bank of Mississippi has been around for more than 100 years and our primary focus is serving the community,” said Community Bank of Mississippi Senior Vice President Harry Piascik. “We’re honored to do so in partnership with FHLB Dallas through the AHP.”

FHLB Dallas awards AHP grants annually, through members like Community Bank of Mississippi, to support the creation or rehabilitation of affordable housing units, among other uses. In 2018, FHLB Dallas awarded $14 million in AHP grants to 29 projects that will result in 1,853 new or renovated housing units. Of that, $6.2 million was awarded to Mississippi projects, and will result in 897 new or rehabilitated housing units.

“There is a great need in this part of the country for affordable housing,” said Greg Hettrick, first vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas. “This grant will help our member, Community Bank of Mississippi, help residents who live on fixed incomes in this rural community.”

Ms. Trosclair said the need for home rehabilitation projects in her area is so great that the organization is forgoing building new homes in favor of exclusive rehabilitation work this year.

“There were so many critical repairs this year that we decided to extend our efforts to help more families through rehabilitation projects,” she said. “Without this grant, we would not have been able to help these 12 families.”

Visit fhlb.com/ahp for more information on the AHP.

About Community Bank of Mississippi

Established in 1905 in a small timber community in East Central Mississippi, Community Bank of Mississippi has grown to more than $3.2 billion in assets, 48 offices and more than 800 employees in four states. The bank takes great pride in its values – fairness, integrity, honesty, respect, humility, self-sacrifice and simple kindness – and goes to great lengths to put those values into action every day. For more information, visit communitybank.net.

About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 11 district banks in the FHLBank system created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $73.7 billion as of September 30, 2018, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced advances and other credit products to approximately 825 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. Visit fhlb.comfor more information.

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