City Joins Affordable-Home Program

The city is interested in buying homes. As soon as city officials can find some.

Earlier this month, the City Council gave a thumbs up to a staff recommendation that the city participate in a new program developed by the U.S Department of Housing. The goal of HUD’s Dollar Home-Buying program is to enable low-income residents or those with financial difficulties to buy homes.

City official are hopeful it can help such residents become Buena Park homeowners.

“I’m for getting low-income people in the city into the homes,” City Councilwoman Patsy Marshall said. “It would help many people, especially those forced to live in motels because they can’t raise enough for a down payment. The problem we have now is that there just are not enough HUD homes available here in Buena Park.”

Under the program’s guidelines, the city would buy single-family homes acquired by the Federal Housing Administration through foreclosures. Those homes that the FHA could not sell within a six-month period would be available for the city to buy for $1, plus as much as $1,000 in closing fees.

Although all Orange County cities are eligible for the program, none has yet bought any FHA homes. But HUD officials and city staff note that there is such demand for homes in North County that most are bought before the six-month period.

“The problem here in Orange County is so many people are moving here that housing is at a premium,” Marshall said. “A lot of the area in north Orange County is just built out.”

Once the city has purchased a home through the program, it could act as a contractor and oversee the rehabilitation of homes by subcontractors. It also could donate the home to nonprofit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity that specialize in rehabilitating affordable housing for low-income residents.

In Riverside and Los Angeles counties, six cities now participate in the program, which HUD launched in May.

Andre Briscoe may be reached at (714) 966-5848.