PLACENTIA

Low-income residents seeking to make minor home repairs could benefit from a new partnership aimed at providing the money and community participation needed to help in the process.

Habitat for Humanity has joined forces with the city to get the public involved in helping to do repairs that would be paid for by the city under a grant program started last year.

“The grant program is getting more response,” said Joyce Rosenthal, the city’s director of development services. “But with Habitat, we hope to reach more people.”

City officials operated a low-interest loan program for home repairs, but resident interest in the 20-year program declined dramatically since people didn’t want to borrow money to fix up their homes, officials said. For that reason, city officials agreed last fall to give away money instead, in the form of grants. The new partnership is the latest change in the program, another effort to spur public interest.