City of Bolivar receives housing grant

BOLIVAR, Tenn. – Bolivar has received a half million dollars to help the community.

City representatives and residents of Bolivar gathered for the announcement of a new opportunity for residents. 

The Tennessee Housing Development Agency awarded the City of Bolivar with a grant for half a million dollars.

This money will go towards a portion of fixing homeowners’ houses.

“We’ve been wanting to do some things for housing. Housing has been a problem for Bolivar. Primarily we are focusing on east Bolivar and some of our older homes that’s there in east Bolivar and the part needs more attention than other parts of our community,” said Bolivar Mayor Julian McTizic.

Improving housing for residents is important to the mayor. He says that this isn’t the first time that the city has applied for the grant.

“This grant has been opened many times, and we, unfortunately, have not been able to apply because the last one we got was in 2015 or 2014 and [there were] issues that [were not] closed out. We were able to get it closed and now we were able to apply for this one and thankfully we were able to receive it,” McTizic said. 

Southwest Tennessee Development was also aided by the mayor in receiving this grant.

“Southwest Tennessee Development District partnered with the City of Bolivar to apply for a housing grant through THDA. We were fortunate to receive the grant in the amount of $50,000, and it’s always exciting for us,” said Joe Barker, the Executive Director of Southwest Tennessee Development District.

Rep. Johnny Shaw says that this moment is exciting for the residents of Bolivar.

“I know that this small grant for Bolivar is going to be an exciting moment for all of the citizens of Hardin County, especially in Bolivar, to enjoy. And we are just excited about it, and hopefully, we can get some more really soon,” Shaw said.

The City of Bolivar will work with the THDA to decide on which residents will qualify for the funds from the grant.

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