Fairfax to Buy Foreclosed Properties for Affordable Housing
June 30 2008 - Fairfax County approved a landmark housing program today to buy foreclosed properties for middle-income families, becoming one of the first communities in the country to tackle the nation’s growing mortgage crisis while also addressing the region’s ever-increasing demand for affordable housing.
County leaders said the program, through which Fairfax will purchase some properties outright and help families buy others through subsidized loans, takes advantage of a unique moment when thousands of homes are entering foreclosure and available for purchase at below-market prices. The program will expand the county’s stock of affordable housing, but it also will help stabilize areas where foreclosures have caused clusters of abandoned and unkempt properties to crop up and threatened the value and vitality of surrounding neighborhoods, these leaders say.
“Fairfax, like the rest of the country, is facing a foreclosure crisis that’s unprecedented,” said Gerald E. Connolly (D), the idea’s originator and the chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. “The county has to use its resources and influence to try to stem the tide.”
While other communities are addressing the housing crisis primarily with counseling and such financial help as utility payment assistance, Fairfax is plunging deeper into the issue by agreeing to spend more than $10 million of local tax dollars toward the purchase of as many as 200 foreclosed homes. The county will purchase 10 homes outright; the rest will be purchased directly by qualifying buyers with the help of government-backed, low-interest loans. Buyers will be eligible for subsidized mortgages as well as low-interest second trusts of up to $70,000. Most of the assistance will be directed to first-time buyers earning up $75,600, or 80 percent of the area median income. Most purchases will be limited to $385,000 and will exclude condominiums.
“It’s a good first step,” said Supervisor Jeff C. McKay (D-Lee), whose district includes central Springfield and some of the county’s highest concentrations of foreclosed homes and blighted neighborhoods.
Fairfax to Buy Foreclosed Properties for Affordable Housing
by Amy Gardner | Washington Post