Home Again Pine Bluff on Wednesday was awarded $30,000 in partnership grant money from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas and FBT Bank & Mortgage.
A ceremony was held on South Belair Drive, where six homes either have been recently completed or are under construction thanks to Home Again, a program that helps teachers and first responders in Pine Bluff draw closer to home ownership. In all, two people have moved on to home ownership with eight couples pursuing just that through the renting-to-owning program founded by local pastor Matt Mosler.
“With three more houses under construction, one’s a house and one’s a duplex, we’re going to have three more families in shortly,” Mosler said, his happiness over the donation shining through.
“This is crazy, man. I just thought maybe we could rebuild a couple of houses, and the next thing you know, FBT Bank shows up,” Mosler said. “This is a great idea. This Home Again idea, moving people from renting to owning, is a great idea. I have no idea how to make it happen. It’s a terrible business model because it takes over $100,000 to rehab these old houses and we resell them for half of what it’s worth. None of us take a salary, and none of us make any money on this, so it’s impossible to do it without good community partners (like) FBT.”
FHLB Dallas said in a news release that its Partnership Grant Program offers a 5-to-1 match of member contributions up to $25,000 per member to support community-based organizations involved in affordable housing or economic development activities that complement other FHLB Dallas community investment programs. FBT committed $5,000.
Bruce Hatton, community outreach and marketing manager for FHLB Dallas, presented the check to Home Again. The bank covers Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas in its district, Hatton said, and has 800 member institutions including FBT.
“This year, 2025, we gave away $1.2 million to help out 34 nonprofit organizations,” Hatton said. “We value the partnership with member bank FBT and the work Home Again is doing to help out their community.”
The new money, Mosler said, would be used to support an administrative assistant position at Home Again.
Home Again offers rent below market value for two years and offers to sell a house for half of its appraised value, up to $50,000. Upon serving in the community for three years and completion of financial and home ownership classes, each renter will receive a $20,000 grant toward the purchase of the home.
A total of 34 homes are planned in a neighborhood including South Belair that was once lined with dilapidated homes. Langston Construction is building the houses.
