City Uses New Twist On Old Program

            New Jersey ’s Urban Homeownership Recovery Program provides grants and loans to build or rehabilitate affordable housing on single sites. So why not finance scattered-site housing as a way of revitalizing neighborhoods?

            That’s what HANDS (Housing And Neighborhood Development Services) wanted to know, and late last month it was awarded $2.4 million in grant and loan money Urban Homeownership to rehab and sell 15 vacant and rundown homes in Orange.

            HANDS, a nonprofit community development corporation, revitalizes neighborhoods by strategically targeting vacant houses in the worst condition for repair and sale to low- and moderate-income home buyers.

            “We go after what we call ‘pivotal eyesores,’” says Pat Morrissy, the CDC’s founder and executive director. “Those are the ones that are sucking the life out of a neighborhood,” he tells CDD.

            Two homes are already in the works to be sold to people in HANDS’ home-buyer’s club. The state money, which comes from the Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency, will put more than a dozen in their own homes.

            It may have seemed a little unorthodox to Urban Homeownership for a group to request rehab money for houses at several sites. But state officials are innovative and were willing to rejigger the program to give scattered-site revitalization a try, says Morrissy. When HANDS is done in about 18 months, mechanisms will be in place for more scattered-site rehab, he says.

            Some of the vacant homes will come from HUD, which CDCs and other nonprofits can buy at deep discounts. Others units will be obtained through tax sales.

            Those purchasing the rehabbed homes will spend six months in homeownership training. A First Home Club co-sponsored by the area’s federal home loan bank and Commerce Bank offers individual development accounts helping families save for down payments and closing costs. The club provides a 3-to-1 match for every dollar a family deposits in its account.

            Helping lower-income families buy a home is satisfaction enough, Morrissy says, but the real impact is on the neighborhood. By getting rid of a dilapidated house that might become a haven for vagrants and drug activity, a neighborhood gains an important asset for increasing its quality of life and property values, he says.

Info: Morrissy, 973/678-3100