Welcome help comes to homeowners
When one home on a quiet residential street is blighted, the
whole neighborhood pays. The home is a magnet for crime and a
guarantee of lower property values through the entire area.
Welcome help comes to homeowners
When one home on a quiet residential street is blighted, the whole neighborhood pays. The home is a magnet for crime and a guarantee of lower property values through the entire area.
That understanding is what propels the Hollister redevelopment staff to recommend the city council approve two programs aimed at stemming a growing crisis in our community. The programs are well thought out and deserving of support.
While it is justifiably troubling to see public funds diverted into private benefit, the city redevelopment agency’s approach contains ample guarantees against abuse.
The law authorizing redevelopment agencies mandates that they be used to alleviate “blight.” Blight carries a broad definition. Cracked sidewalks? Blight. Bumpy streets or faded centerlines? Blight.
Foreclosed homes, smeared with grafitti and festooned with boarded up windows, need no government-authorized definition. They are the picture of blight.
The city council members have proposed several ways to deal with the issue of foreclosed homes – and with 589 homes in some stage of foreclosure within the city limits it is an issue.
First, the city has passed a resolution that will keep foreclosed homes from falling into disarray. The resolution gives the code enforcement officer a way to make sure that lenders who hold the deeds on homes are held accountable. Lender-owned neglected homes – ones with broken windows, unkempt landscapes and general debris – will be entered in a database and required to check on the homes twice a week. If the neglect doesn’t end, the lenders will receive fines, up to $500 a day until the problem is resolved.
In addition, city staff are creating a program that offers up to $50,000 for down payments to low-income, first-time homebuyers who are interested in purchasing a previously foreclosed home within the redevelopment district. While the money is not free and clear, owners would pay back varying fees depending on when they sell the house – if they live there long enough the debt is forgiven.
City staff is also working to identify homeowners who are in danger of losing their home to foreclosure. City staff will be working with the Homeowner Resource Alliance, a for-profit company that works with homeowners and lenders to renegotiate the terms of loans to help owners make their payments.
The programs are good for all, as they will keep property values up a little in a housing market in freefall.
