Tenants Become Owners in First Sale of Federal Public Housing

The first sale of a federally subsidized public housing complex to its residents was completed on Friday--for $1.

The transfer of the Kenilworth-Parkside public housing development in the city’s northeast quadrant capped a five-year process in which the residents successfully managed the complex and qualified to purchase the property under a program promoted by Housing Secretary Jack Kemp.

“The residents have worked so hard over the past five years to make this possible. This can open the door for residents of other public housing complexes across the country who’d like to have a definite say about their living conditions,” said Kimi Gray, head of the Kenilworth-Parkside Resident Management Corp.

The transfer of 132 housing units to the management corporation was the first phase of the program, with the remaining 332 units to be transferred as renovations are completed.

A study by an independent accounting firm indicated that the program would save the government $6 million over 10 years and $26 million over 40 years.

The sale was made possible in part by amendments to the 1987 Housing Act, which gave resident councils the right to manage their own developments.

The bill, sponsored by then-Rep. Kemp and Walter E. Fauntroy, the non-voting Democratic delegate from the District of Columbia, also created procedures allowing residents to buy their developments after three years of satisfactory self-management.

Kemp said the Kenilworth-Parkside sale helped advance the Bush Administration’s goal of achieving a million new first-time and low-income homeowners by 1992.