DeKalb Will Pay for Your Roof. It Wants Ten Years in Return.

A failed roof or a dead HVAC system is the kind of bill that decides whether a longtime homeowner stays or sells. DeKalb County's BrighterHome program is built against that outcome.

The structure, as it stands:

• A $10 million fund offering forgivable loans of up to $30,000 per household.
• Critical repairs covered, including roofs, HVAC, plumbing and accessibility upgrades.
• The homeowner keeps the property as their primary residence for ten years after the repairs are done. Complete that period and the balance is forgiven.
• No age requirement.
• Preference includes people who have owned and lived in their home for at least 15 years, households earning up to 60 percent of Area Median Income, seniors, veterans and people with disabilities.

The ten-year string is the whole deal, and it deserves to be read as one. Repair money that arrives as a loan and leaves as a grant is real money, and the price is a decade of commitment to the address. For an owner who has already been in the house 15 years, that may be no price at all. For anyone who might need to sell, move closer to family, or make a decision they cannot see from here, it is a term to weigh before signing, not after.

What I would tell a neighbor asking about this: the timeline matters as much as the terms. Applications are anticipated to open in fall 2026. The interest form that exists today provides updates. It is not the application, and filling it out does not put anyone in line for the money.

So the useful move is to spend the gap between the interest form and the application understanding your own numbers. Know what the repair actually costs, know where your household lands against 60 percent of Area Median Income, and know how you feel about ten more years in that house. Those are the questions the paperwork will ask, and they are easier to answer on your own schedule than on the county's.