Ten New Homes are Up in Schulenburg Subdivision With 25 More by Year’s End

DSW Homes has completed ten new homes in its Falcon View subdivision in Schulenburg and plans to complete the remaining 25 by the end of the year, according to DSW executive Beau Yarbrough.

“We should be out of there by the end of the year,” Yarbrough said.

The 36-home project is being funded by an $8.6 million grant from the federal government and administered by the Texas General Land Office (GLO). The money was earmarked for rebuilding or replacing affordable rental housing damaged or destroyed during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. GLO Commissioner George P. Bush announced the funding at an event in La Grange back in September 2018.

Many in La Grange were surprised to learn a month later that much of the project would be built in Schulenburg. The developers’ plans called for repairing one house that flooded in La Grange and building 35 new single family homes in Schulenburg.

DSW recently demolished the home in La Grange, which was located at 540 W. Lafayette St. Yarbrough said his company will build a new home on that lot instead.

“By the time you do the lead abatement and the remodel, you end up with an old house that costs more than just tearing it down and building a new house,” Yarbrough said. “Its cheaper for the developer, and ultimately its a better product.”

All 36 of the homes will be single-family rental units.

“We are pre-leasing right now,” Yarbrough said. “We have about 30 (renters) in the pipeline.”

The grant that funded the project requires rent controls on 51 percent of the units for 15 years, making them more affordable for low to medium income residents. The developers can rent the other half of the units at market rates.