Colonia Housing Assistance in Starr County, Texas

Where the program comes from, and how it's funded

Texas's Colonia Self-Help Center program dates to 1995, when the 74th Legislature passed Senate Bill 1509 directing the state to establish self-help centers specifically in Cameron/Willacy, Hidalgo, Starr, Webb, and El Paso Counties, along with any other county later designated as an economically distressed area. Starr County's center is one of only seven currently operating along the entire Texas-Mexico border. Funding runs through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Texas Community Development Block Grant program, via a 2.5% colonia set-aside worth approximately $1.5 million annually statewide, administered through a memorandum of understanding between the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) and the Texas Department of Agriculture. Locally, the center is operated by a nonprofit, community action agency, or housing authority with a demonstrated track record -- not by county government directly -- under contract with TDHCA.

The five colonias currently served, and what the program actually does

Per a July 2015 TDHCA press release -- the most specific, documented figures this research could locate, now over a decade old -- Starr County's Self-Help Center served five named colonias -- Mesquite #1, Treviño's, Share 52, Venencia, and Victoria -- reaching an estimated 1,746 residents, under a contract valued at roughly $700,000. The five colonia designations themselves are durable and plausibly still accurate, but the resident count and contract value are an eleven-year-old snapshot, not a current figure; confirm the program's present caseload and contract terms directly with TDHCA before relying on these numbers. Eligibility is limited to low- and very-low-income individuals and families actually living in one of these designated colonias, not open to any Starr County resident generally.

The service menu is genuinely broad and hands-on rather than purely advisory: housing rehabilitation and new construction, surveying and platting assistance (directly relevant if a colonia lot's boundaries or plat status is unclear), construction-skills training and tool-library access for residents doing self-help labor, housing finance and mortgage capital access, credit and debt counseling, grant writing, infrastructure construction and access improvements, and -- notably -- contract-for-deed conversion assistance, helping residents who purchased land under an informal contract-for-deed arrangement (historically common and often precarious in colonias) convert to a standard recorded deed.

What this means for a land purchase

• If a parcel of interest sits inside or adjacent to Mesquite #1, Treviño's, Share 52, Venencia, or Victoria, confirm directly with the Starr County Self-Help Center or TDHCA's Office of Colonia Initiatives whether the property has an active file with the program -- prior surveying, platting, or infrastructure work done through the center can materially affect the lot's current legal and utility status.
• If a lot is being sold or was previously purchased under a contract-for-deed arrangement rather than a standard warranty deed, know that a state-supported conversion process exists specifically for this situation in Starr County -- worth raising with a real estate attorney before assuming a contract-for-deed purchase carries the same protections as a recorded deed.
• The program's existence signals real, documented gaps in some Starr County colonia lots' water, sewer, or platting status historically -- even where a specific lot has since been improved, ask directly about its infrastructure history rather than assuming a colonia-area lot has always had full utility service.
• This program serves specific, named colonias only -- land elsewhere in Starr County, including most agricultural and ranch acreage, falls entirely outside the Self-Help Center's scope and instead follows the county's standard (if colonias-prevention-influenced) subdivision platting process described on the county hub.