Midvale received a $100,000 grant from Salt Lake County to help homeowners make repairs and energy improvements to their homes.

Handled by Midvale’s Redevelopment Agency, the Home Repair Loan Program offers 5-year loans of up to $15,000 to low- and moderate-income homeowners throughout the city. The loans have zero interest as long as the homeowner maintains the house as their primary residence throughout the loan's term.

RDA tapped NeighborWorks Salt Lake to administer the funds on a first come, first served basis. Moira Gray, economic development and RDA project manager, told the council that 12 households have received repair loans so far this year.

City leaders accepted the Community Development Block Grant on Nov. 18. While the grant was passed down to Midvale from the county, the funds come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The repair loans are only one prong of Midvale’s housing assistance programs for low- and moderate-income residents, capped at 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI).

The RDA also offers down payment assistance to first-time home buyers with forgivable loans of up to $30,000.

Midvale’s Mayor Dustin Gettel asked if people have utilized the down payment assistance program. Gray replied that – while a couple of residents have applied – the RDA has had trouble finding eligible people, and other cities in the county with similar programs are facing the same challenge.

“That's always been my fear because you have to find the perfect person who... makes 80% AMI but also can afford the $480,000 home,” Gettel said. “So I'm just wondering at some point if the home repair loan program is so successful, maybe we can put more money into that rather than having money in the down payment assistance program.”

Gray replied that transferring the down payment assistance funds to the repair loan program is a possibility somewhere down the road.

“We have been very lucky, and we're able to use a lot of county funds … we have plenty of money available, and we're doing pretty heavy marketing [for the program,]” she said.

The county's housing grant puts the RDA's home repair program budget at $260,000 for the 2025 fiscal year.