Program to Offer Nearly 2,000 Homes to Low-Income Buyers

Nearly 2,000 homes in blighted areas of Los Angeles are expected to be refurbished and sold at a discount to low-income, first-time buyers under a $100-million program launched Tuesday by a coalition of governments and businesses.

The Enterprise Home Ownership Program will target blighted areas to rehabilitate and resell homes, with the buyers’ interest payments deferred for 30 years or until the homes are resold.

Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Los Angeles), who joined other coalition leaders Tuesday in Boyle Heights to announce the project, said, “We all know that homeownership strengthens a community.

“When I was growing up in this community, homeownership was the norm,” she said of Boyle Heights. Today, she said, a third of Boyle Heights residents own homes, compared with 67% nationally.

A coalition of the city and federal governments, nonprofit organizations and private businesses will pool their resources to buy and renovate about 1,800 dilapidated properties and resell them at a discount to low-income buyers in Boyle Heights, Watts, Highland Park and South-Central Los Angeles. About 50 houses in blighted areas of Canoga Park and Pacoima will also be renovated and sold.

The properties targeted are foreclosed Housing and Urban Development homes in need of repair. HUD will sell them to Home Ownership Partners for about $100,000 to $120,000, less the cost the group will spend on renovations, said Ann Sewill, California director of the Enterprise Foundation, a coalition member.

To qualify for the program, buyers must have an income of $25,000 to $30,000. They will receive low-interest loans, but must pay only on the principal until the house is resold, Sewill said.

Jose and Alicia Corana attended the announcement of the program in anticipation of learning the basics of home ownership.

“It’s a rare chance that I can learn about how I can get a loan,” said Jose Corana, a general contractor who has been renting a home in Boyle Heights for eight years. The father of three said that for him, “the principal thing is how to qualify.”

The median price of a house in Los Angeles County is about $252,000, compared with $139,900 nationwide, according to a study released last week by the California Assn. of Realtors.

Only 34% of Los Angeles County households can afford to buy a home at that price, the study found.

A toll-free number has been set up to answer questions from potential buyers: (888) 673-3467.