City of Fort worth offering grant money for homeowners with winter storm damage repairs

The city of Fort Worth is using every tool it can find to helps its residents fix what was broken during last week's winter storm.

FORT WORTH, Texas - The city of Fort Worth is using every tool it can find to helps its residents fix what was broken during last week's winter storm.

FEMA has federal disaster loans, but the city apparently has the financial resources to help homeowners afford basic repairs that is separate from FEMA funding

The city has its own pot of money for community repairs, and the focus right now is on helping homeowners fix weather-related problems.

Homeowner Jackie Dansby left her Fort Worth house when the power went out on Valentine’s Day. She returned days later to broken pipes and a flooded garage.

"The stuff that you see right there was on top of the damaged goods that we put on the curb that the city picked up today," she said.

Dansby’s daughter, Shawntae Sharpe, lives a few miles away. She’s also scrambling to repair the damage to her home after losing most of the family’s clothing and electronics due to flooding and burst pipes.

"Due to the freeze our hot water heater had froze, and it froze the pipes going to the toilet," Sharpe said. "So our whole area going from the front to the garage area, the roof just fell in."

The city of Fort Worth has set two programs to get help to residents in similar situations.

LINK: https://www.fortworthtexas.gov/departments/neighborhoods/services/priorityrepair

The Waterline Assistance through Emergency Resources program, or WATER for short, can provide up to $5,000 to help homeowners with large scale repairs to water and gas lines as well as water heaters.

In order to qualify, homeowners must meet certain income requirements.

For example, a family of four must make less than $65,000 a year. The home must be in Fort Worth. They must live in the home, and it has to be valued at less than $175,000 by the Tarrant Appraisal District.

Another resource for homeowners is the Smart Repair Program run by the Fort Worth Water Department offering up to $3,000 for minor plumbing repairs.

"You don't know what the price is to fix stuff. You call contractors out. They’re gonna get their money’s worth," Sharpe said.

Dansby already got a quote from a contractor about repairing concrete in her garage but is concerned about the high price tag. Now, she and her daughter say they’ll continue to do as much as they can on their own while continuing to save what they can.

"We tried our best but we have a lot of damage," Sharpe said.