The city sold seven properties as part of an effort to revive blighted sites and encourage housing production.
The city of Newark sold seven blighted or vacant properties for $1 each in a lottery aimed at supporting their rehabilitation, reports Gaby Galvin in Smart Cities Dive. According to Galvin, “Mayor Ras Baraka bills the $1-home program, which targets low- and moderate-income residents, as a way to close wealth gaps and prevent corporate investors from buying up homes and hiking up the rent.”
Buyers will have access to a low-interest mortgage to fund repairs or construction. The properties include vacant lots, single-family homes, and multifamily buildings. “Buyers can’t be current homeowners, they must have lived in Newark for at least five consecutive years — or have been recently displaced by gentrification — and they must live in the purchased home for at least 10 years.”
The program is meant to promote homeownership and boost the housing supply with new multifamily housing. Advocates see $1-home programs as one piece of the housing puzzle that cities can undertake alongside state and federal policies.
FULL STORY: Newark, New Jersey, sells residents $1 homes to fend off corporate property buyers
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Report: Corporate Investors Bought One Quarter of Philadelphia Homes since 2016. Advocates are Raising Alarms.
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Toronto Condo Sales Drop 75%
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
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5 New England states march closer to 800 megawatt wind energy project
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Baltimore to break ground on $50 million Transit Priority Project
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Airbnb launches $250 million 'last-dollar financing' housing accelerator, makes first investment in Austin
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FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
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Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
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The Architects Foundation
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The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association