A program aimed at boosting local homeownership offers city residents entry into a lottery to purchase city-owned properties for $1.
City officials in Newark, New Jersey, raffled off seven city-owned properties for just one dollar on Monday, January 29 — the first round of a program looking to boost homeownership among existing city residents, reports Eyewitness News, ABC7NY. Newark has one of the lowest percentages of homeownership of any major American city.
To qualify for the “Home Ownership Revitalization Program,” potential buyers must have lived in the city for at least five years or be residents displaced by gentrification. They must also commit to living in the properties for at least 10 years and undergo homebuyer counseling with the Neighborhood Assistance Corp of America (NACA), which provides low interest mortgages to help people become homeowners.
The properties, which were seized by the city for non-payment and public debts, are dilapidated and will require extensive repairs. City officials hope the new owners will rehabilitate them into multifamily homes.
“"It's more than affordable homeownership," said Bruce Marks of the NACA, the article reports. "It's neighborhood stabilization.”
FULL STORY: Newark holds first lottery to pick residents who can buy houses for $1
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