FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) –  Tarrant County has canceled a program that was supposed to provide nearly half a million dollars to residents for home buying.

In two years, the Homebuyer Assistance Program doled out only about 10 percent of the $459,000 in federal grant money it started with in June 2009. The initial goal was to assist 51 homebuyers; the program approved just six.

"The clients weren't requesting the funds," said Donna Van Ness, director of the Tarrant County Housing Partnership, which had the contract to disperse the money for the county. "They weren't able to qualify when they were. So we realized fairly quickly there may be an issue."

Van Ness said she realized within months of the project's launch that it was in trouble. TCHP increased its marketing efforts to reach more applications, but she said the situation never improved.

Applicants, who make just 80 percent of the area's median income, were required to obtain traditional home loans in a market where lenders were tightening criteria. Homes also had to be in designated areas of the county and had to meet federal HUD standards.

"A lot of the houses on the market didn't meet the minimum housing quality standards," Van Ness said. "A lot of these were foreclosures and had major issues."

Arlington resident Johnnie Foster, 70, jumped at the chance in the January to get down payment assistance. Five months later, though, and Foster is still in a cramped Arlington apartment, squeezing her wheel chair through narrow hallways.

She hasn't been able to get the traditional loan required, even though she said her retirement, social security and housing assistance checks guarantee the mortgage would be covered.

"I say I'll just keep trying," she said. "Do what they tell me."

Other cities have had similar struggles assisting buyers. Arlington has just six weeks to meet its goal of 50 down payments and had only approved 28 through this week.

The city is evaluating the possibility of modifying the program to raise assistance limits from the current $10,000 limit to attract more buyers. Fort Worth opened up its maximum assistance amount – $14,999 – to buyers citywide after previously making it available only to residents in designated areas of the city.

The unused money from Tarrant County's program will now be used to buy and fix up homes, enough for maybe three or four total, officials said.