A Helping Hand

For more than 15 years, Johnnie Herron had been putting band-aids on her 20-unit building in the East Garfield Park neighborhood. She didn’t want to abandon the building but at the time couldn’t get banks to consider a rehab loan. "You got shot down at the door," she said. "The banks would say ‘What area are you in? We’re not loaning in that area. The risk is too high.’ It was discouraging. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to take care of the building, but there was only so much you could do out of operating income."

When she applied for a loan from CIC in 1986, she went through a very detailed review that helped her understand how to rehab and operate the building successfully. With financing from CIC, the city and her own funds, Johnnie replaced major systems and patched more cosmetic items. She kept going, and rehabbed a vacant six-flat next door. Then she acquired a building in Austin from a tax scavenger sale and rehabbed it, one of five projects she has completed with CIC help.

"For those people who have become proven commodities with CIC, it’s like a marriage," Herron said. We all dream dreams, and it’s nice when you become partners with a lender who can share your vision."