Alice DeSandro didn’t think home ownership was in her future. But the 39-year-old quickly realized she’d been priced out of Lafayette’s hot rental market too while looking for a place where she could live with her young son.  

Her luck took a turn for the better. She was at the library when she saw a flier for down-payment assistance for first-time home buyers through Lafayette Consolidated Government. 

By October DeSandro and her 6-year-old son were sleeping in their new home, and she’s making mortgage payments that are hundreds less than some rentals she’d once considered.  

DeSandro qualified for a program that allows first-time homebuyers to finance their down payment and defer repayment, with the potential for 100% forgiveness. 

The program is just one of many administered by the Jessie L. Taylor Center, LCG’s housing counseling program, founded in 1978. With little fanfare and public attention — despite its five decades — the center operates within LCG’s Community Development and Planning Department, at 111 Shirley Picard Drive. 

Many residents of Lafayette like DeSandro, a paraprofessional educator with the Lafayette Parish School System who might otherwise qualify for rental assistance, are out of luck, as the Lafayette Housing Authority’s rental assistance program has a five-year waiting list. 

The demand for affordable housing has overwhelmed the Lafayette Housing Authority, and Lafayette Consolidated Government has done little to address the affordable housing crisis, except through The Taylor Center. Compared with the scope of Lafayette’s affordability problem, the center is under-resourced and underfunded — the center has long wait lists for its programs, many of which would seem to benefit the thousands of Lafayette families priced out of the local housing market. 

Classes and Counseling

Matisha Clark and Jerrill Poydras have been attending classes and counseling at the Taylor Center since January. They plan to buy their first home this December. 

“[The programs] are very, very, beneficial, and it’ll get you where you’re trying to get,” says Clark. 

The couple learned of the Taylor Center’s work from their daughter, and say they now feel more prepared for homeownership. 

Run by Belle LeBlanc, LCG’s human services manager and a HUD-certified housing counselor, the center has grown significantly over the years to offer a wide range of services, counseling both first-time prospective home buyers and income-qualified individuals looking to rehab their existing homes.

The Taylor Center runs monthly classes covering various topics around home ownership, including home maintenance and financial literacy. For the first time, the center hosted a Spanish housing workshop this summer, equipping attendees with understanding and skills to plan for eventual homeownership. 

Clark and Poydras started with the homeownership training, and say the professionals in the program brought to their attention related concepts they had not given much thought to before. 

“It’s where we got to really know what [a] credit score was,” says Clark. 

Teaching about credit scores and establishing a line of credit is a primary focus of the homeownership training. LeBlanc recommends the training to everyone, not just prospective homebuyers, for this reason. 

“I tell people, even if you don’t think you’re ready to buy today, if you come to this class now, you’re able to get yourself prepared,” she says. 

The financial literacy class expands on that, and LeBlanc says even current homeowners can better understand how to organize their affairs. 

The home maintenance class prepares potential or new homeowners on how to deal with maintenance issues, like housing foundations and termite infestations.

“All the classes were very beneficial, especially the maintenance part,” says Poydras. “That’s one class that stood out most.” 

Some of the classes are required for applicants accessing loans or grants through the Taylor Center. 

Currently, the first-time home buyer loan, like the one Alice DeSandro qualified for, is deferred and will be forgiven if the recipient lives in the home for a period set by the loan amount. For the maximum loan of $20,000, that period is 10 years. 

DeSandro also pointed to the maintenance class as extremely beneficial, especially when looking to buy a home that has been a rental for a long time. 

“It taught us to look for the ‘landlord specials,’” says DeSandro. 

The “landlord special” refers to a shoddy repair job by a property owner or building supervisor, much like tenant reports from the Himbola Manor apartment complex. It’s when long-term issues like termites or water damage are covered over by short-term fixes, for instance coats of paint over moldy walls. Locating these in potential homes, is important for first-time home buyers on a budget. 

Housing Rehab

LCG housing rehabilitation specialist Kevin Roy, who has more than 40 years of experience in his field, oversees both major and minor rehab programs, along with housing demolitions. The latter program was just recently brought under the center’s umbrella. 

Demolitions are probably the most known, as they often go before the councils and LCG staff when deciding on sending properties to arbitration. 

A maximum grant of $15,000 is available to demolish residential properties, though the property’s owner has to apply for the grant. A major issue with many properties which typically have multiple code violations and are too expensive to rehab, arises when owners have died or abandoned their obligations, leaving relatives to pick up the pieces without legal ownership. 

The center’s minor rehab program is the most popular. Minor rehab mostly involves roof replacements, which, in the Lafayette climate, are vital to protecting the long-term health of the housing stock. Roy says many of the recipients of the program are on fixed incomes and cannot afford a $10,000-$12,000 roof repair, which prevents interior water damage. 

“We try to take care of the roof as soon as we can to prevent other damages from occurring, and then that client can also be put on the major rehab list,” Roy says. The repairs are paid for by a grant of up to $7,500 from the center. The program, which also services sewers, handicap accessibility and other essential repairs at varying grant levels, has a waiting list. 

Major rehabs, on the other hand, can take more than six months to complete. Just three major rehabs, which brought homes up to code and out of arbitration, were approved in fiscal year 2023 due to funding limitations. “It takes a home that’s pretty well dilapidated in most cases, and brings it up to current code standards,” says Roy. 

During this process, the resident is also moved out of their home and relocated to one of four homes maintained by LCG in part for this temporary purpose. 

“We’re not doing a [complete] renovation … but in the process of bringing it up to code, sometimes we have to do some other things that’s going to require us to put in new walls, new ceilings, etc,” notes Roy. “So at the end, it looks like it’s been remodeled, but it’s not necessarily the case of what our program is designed to do.”