Housing service nabs redevelopment grant

By Mike Chiari and Tim Daniels
Bengal News Reporters
As you walk down West Side streets you will inevitability come across boarded up homes that are in very poor shape.

 The nations foreclosure rates are at an all-time high with nearly 3 million in 2009 and similar projected totals for 2010. That amount represents nearly one in 50 households in the United States.

 According to West Side housing advocate Harvey Garrett, a major reason for the high number of foreclosures is a lack of knowledge on the part of first-time homebuyers.

 West Side Neighborhood Housing Services is working to put a dent into those problems with the help of a $68,150 grant from the national neighborhood redevelopment organization NeighborWorks America.

Grants will be available for West Side home improvement

 “This is a flexible grant, which means we won't use it for one specific program, but to support the delivery of all of our programs. Primarily it will facilitate our homebuyer education, foreclosure prevention, home improvement and lending programs,” said Laura Sweat, resource development and communications director for West Side Neighborhood Housing Services. “That means it will help us to provide homebuyer education classes, free one-on-one credit counseling, free foreclosure prevention counseling and home improvement loans, as well as help us to administer city programs like the emergency assistance and first-time homebuyer conditional grants.”

 West Side Neighborhood Housing Services is a chartered member of NeighborWorks America, making it eligible to receive the Congress appropriated funds.

 Susan Jouard of NeighborWorks America's Northeast District said there is an assessment that prospective members must go through in order to obtain a grant.

 “Annual grants are provided to charter member organizations based upon operational plans, strong management and a track record of performance,” she said.

 Garrett said grants like this one help new homeowners succeed in becoming better homeowners, but said there is still a lot of work to do.

 “The housing situation on the West Side is drastically improving. We've tripled the property values in the last 5 ½ to 10 years. Property values are increasing, vacancies are decreasing, home ownership rates are increasing,” he said. “The biggest challenge we have right now is that it's getting harder and harder to define the area because more people are coming in with money, it's raising the rents, it's raising the property values.”

 While it is important not to forget about the homeowners already living on the West Side and making sure to provide them what they need to continue living there, it is equally important to help those people who are renting homes on the West Side become homeowners before they get priced out of the area, Garrett said.

 Harvey Garrett discusses whether grants are used effectively: 

 

 As a long-standing member of the West Side Neighborhood Housing Services board of directors, Garrett said the organization has a good staff.

 “I'd like to see the West Side Neighborhood Housing Services get more input from the neighborhood and what their needs are and to be more involved with the neighborhood,” Garrett said.

 Jouard said NeighborWorks America hopes the grants it provides make a noticeable impact on areas like the West Side.

 “We aim to strengthen communities by creating safe, affordable and sustainable housing and homeownership opportunities by promoting resident involvement in neighborhoods and spurring increased investment in low and moderate income neighborhoods,” she said.

 Sweat said by helping residents through the entire home buying process, it lessens the otherwise large burden on new homeowners.

 “By doing this we build homeownership to strengthen the neighborhoods we serve,” she said. “We help low and moderate income residents become homeowners and we ensure that residents are successful in homeownership, and aren't overwhelmed by unexpected repair costs or by their mortgages.”

-- Edited by Erica Lindo and Amanda Steffan