Foreclosures Opening Doors to Affordable Houses

June 3rd, 2009 | Tags: Foreclosure

big house

Foreclosures may have brought tears to many but it is opening up doors to affordable houses for some.
Neighborhood Stabilization Program plans to take over and renovate foreclosed and boarded houses that would otherwise have been a curse on the locality. There are plans ahead of acquiring more units. It is expected to fetch $190,000. Discounts will be offered to first time nest builders who are qualified to buy these affordable units. There are certain guidelines.

In the autumn of last year HUD granted $3.92 billion for stabilizing program across USA. Nassau County executive Thomas R. Souzzi said that he many others from non-profit and private groups would come forward to make the project a success. There were even plans to help first time buyers with down payments. Suozzi said that foreclosed houses tend to concentrate in some places. He said, “These houses drag the neighborhood down. We don’t want blighted homes destroying the quality of life of the neighborhoods.” He hoped that the programme would “put people to work and help the economy” as well as “put people who are qualified homeowners into affordable housing.”

Since the money is being funded privately it is hoped that the county would be able to renovate many more units. Peter Elkowitz the president and CEO of Long Island Housing Partnership, based in Hauppauge said that his entity has got $6 million from state coffers. He commented that the rehabilitation plans were different from the previous ones because the houses were being repaired before being sold. Usually the house is repaired by the buyer after purchasing it.

The programme will arrange for subsidy for each buyer – the amount ranging from $50,000 to $80,000. On an average the discount would be 15%. It has been stipulated that the sanctioned fund would have to be utilized within 18 months.

Jon Searles of Fannie Mae said, “the purchase of foreclosed properties demonstrates how the public sector and lending institutions can work together to assist at-risk neighborhoods, stabilize communities, and provide homes to qualified first-time home buyers.”

The work was unique because it involved rehabilitating not just one or two houses but entire block, pointed out Priscilla Almodovar of New York State’s Housing Finance Agencies. Diana Weir of Long Island Housing Partnership said that the stabilization plan was targeted to check the flow of speculators rushing in to fish in troubled waters.

Renters are excluded from the programme. The buyer must be the occupier of the house. Weir added, “We are really trying to build a community and stabilize it and bring in true homeownership.”