SIMI VALLEY : Names Drawn for Low-Cost Houses

Simi Valley officials drew names from a drum Monday, doling out chances to buy new houses for $83,000 below market value.

About 70 people crowded into a room at City Hall as Mayor Greg Stratton and Councilman Bill Davis picked names from the metal drum.

Applicants were not required to be present, but many families attended the drawing, anxious to hear whether they will get a chance to buy one of the 58 bargain houses.

“We’ve got two little babies, and we wanted to get a yard for them to play in,” said Joanie Smith, a teacher who lives with her husband and children in a Simi Valley condominium. “You just can’t afford a house at the regular market price in Simi Valley.”

The three-bedroom, 1,520-square-foot houses, each appraised at $207,500, are being built in the Classics tract on Tierra Rejada Road just west of Madera Road. The city is using its funds to reduce the sale price to $124,300 for buyers with an annual household income that does not exceed $38,600.

The city received 1,151 applications from people interested in buying the subsidized houses, said Dulce Conde-Sierra, deputy planning director for housing and special projects. “We’ve gotten calls from everywhere, even out of the state,” she said.

Before the drawing, applicants were divided into five groups to give people who live and work in Simi Valley the first opportunities to buy the houses. The lottery also places households of two or more people ahead of individual buyers.

Under the lottery rules, the first applicants selected will have the first chance to buy the bargain houses.

City officials said some winners may not have enough money for a down payment or may not qualify for mortgage loans. In such a case, the chance to buy one of the houses will pass to the next name drawn in the lottery.

The subsidized houses cannot be resold during the first five years, except to other buyers who meet the affordable-housing guidelines.

After five years, the houses can be resold at market value, but the seller must repay the city the amount used to reduce the original sale price. The city also will share in any appreciation in the value of the house.