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The high cost of low-cost housing
Posted By katie allison granju
Larry Van Guilder has a very interesting piece in the Halls Shopper about former County Commissioner Josh Jordan’s acquisition of two KCDC-owned houses at bargain-basement prices:
The gap between KCDC’s expenses for purchasing and moving the Pickett Avenue houses and Jordan’s investment in those same houses is at least $150,000. Ultimately, the inability to protect these properties resulted in a situation where a political insider received a bargain at taxpayer expense.
Jordan also received special loans for the properties:
KCDC officials confirmed that Jordan received $36,754 in loans to rehabilitate the houses and utilized $21,414 of that amount. The loans are forgivable over time if the houses are rented to qualifying households.
According to the city’s Homemakers Program fact sheet, eligible properties are “identified by the city for acquisition based on the necessity of blight removal, neighborhood redevelopment and affordable housing opportunities. The final purchaser of the property will be required, in almost all cases, to either construct a new dwelling on the property or rehabilitate the existing structure.”
KCDC’s Chief Development Officer, Dan Tiller, said the prices paid by Jordan were “fairly typical” for houses that needed “extensive rehabilitation.” But KCDC paid “fair market value” for the houses in 2001, $63,000 and $60,000, respectively, raising the question of how much rehabilitation was necessary at that time.
Jan 31st, 2008
