When it rains, Delores Clark has made a habit for the past few years of frantically placing pots and buckets under the leaks inside her home. Sometimes, she’s had to do it in the middle of the night, waking to make sure her house stays as dry as possible — worried that each storm might cause damage they simply could not afford to fix.

It became a routine for her after a deadly tornado, with winds near 160 miles per hour, damaged the roof of the home she shares with her husband in the rural Texas town of Alto. Since that storm in the spring of 2019, a tarp was the only layer of protection Clark and her husband had separating the outdoors from the interior of their home. 

“Tarps, they’re doable for a little while, but not for long-term periods,” Clark said. 

The cost of repairing the roof was beyond what the couple could afford on their limited income. Without repairs, the home they had lived in for more than two decades was at risk of becoming unlivable. Clark and her husband have spent 26 years in their home, after each of them moved to the quiet town for different reasons. Clark moved to Alto as an adult, while her husband — a self-proclaimed GI brat — moved to Alto when his dad retired from the service.

Alto is home to fewer than 1,500 people, a handful of small businesses like a pizza place and a boutique, and several places of worship. It’s the kind of town where neighbors know each other and options for housing or repairs can be limited.

“We have more churches here than anything,” Clark said. “If you were to come to Alto and stand at the four-way, you could literally see three churches from the four-way.”

Many people leave town to find work, and Clark is no different. She works at a grocery store in a neighboring town. Her husband, who recently beat cancer, is unable to work any longer. Finances are very tight, with just enough coming in to cover utilities, groceries and gas. It makes a large, surprise expense a tough one to navigate. So they did what they were able to, to make their situation as livable as possible.

“We tried to do the best we could,” Clark said.

Moving, and starting over, seemed like an impossibility, Clark said. Rent is high and options are limited. Many of the homes in Alto are from the 1800s. Their home was built in the 1930s or 40s. Besides the roof needing repairs, the floors also need attention. 

As with any older home, the to-do list adds up. Catastrophe, like a tornado, just bumps some of those to-dos to the top of the list. Clark’s home was not the only one that sustained damage during that storm. Hundreds were damaged and dozens were completely destroyed. Alto, it turns out, is in a region of the state that sees quite a bit of severe weather.

Communities Unlimited, a nonprofit economic development organization funded in part by USDA Rural Development grants, began working in Alto to help residents strengthen their homes against severe weather with its Fortified Roof program. The goal of the program is to help residents strengthen their roofs and protect them against severe weather at no cost to the homeowner.

Throughout 2025 alone, the program invested about $480,000 to fortify 32 roofs, protecting homes and helping families complete costly repairs. 

The Fortified Roof program is part of broader housing-focused work the organization is doing in east Texas in collaboration with Enterprise Community Partners. Enterprise is a national nonprofit and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that focuses on affordable housing investment. Enterprise’s national housing expertise and capital combined with CU’s lending infrastructure and relationships allows homeowners like Clark to access affordable housing that wouldn’t be available otherwise. 

When Communities Unlimited began canvassing Alto and sharing information about the program with residents, one of Clark’s neighbors walked a representative from the organization over to her house. 

“They looked at it and said, ‘We need to do something for ya’ll,’” Clark said.

But the damage to Clark’s roof was so significant that they didn’t qualify for the Fortified Roof program, which focuses on strengthening roofs before catastrophic failure. It was at that point that Communities Unlimited turned to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas, connecting Clark to a grant fund that would cover the cost of a full replacement. 

Over the course of two August days in 2025, contractors completely replaced Clark’s roof. It rained the following weekend and Clark jumped out of bed. 

“I literally got up and walked around just to see if there were any spots where it was leaking and there was nothing. I mean nothing,” she said. “I was so overjoyed because I didn’t have to worry about waking up in the middle of the night because it was raining to catch the leaks. I actually got up and looked around the house and knew there were no leaks and went back to bed and slept peacefully.”

A snow and ice storm rolled through a few months later, and despite losing power, Clark said she and her husband were protected from the elements. With the roof repaired, Clark and her husband have the potential to see lower utility bills, freeing up some of their budget for other expenses. The home still needs some work, though, from insulation to flooring to weatherization. 

Even if the home still has some issues, Clark said it’s better than it was. At one point, a new roof wasn’t even in the realm of possibility. Clark said Communities Unlimited is looking for additional resources to help them with their weatherization needs. 

The repair also means Clark and her husband can remain in the home they’ve built their lives in.

“If it wasn’t for them and this grant, we probably would have had to move out and start all over again,” she said. “There’s a lot of small communities that probably could use this kind of help.”