|
As foreclosures loom and real estate prices fall across the Twin
Cities, the nonprofit group Habitat for Humanity is making the best of
the situation by buying up land and vacant houses at bargain prices.
"It's
a sad situation, this market, but we can't lose sight of the
opportunity within it," said Sue Haigh, president of Twin Cities
Habitat for Humanity.
Habitat has
been buying property within stalled developments in cities it otherwise
couldn't afford, such as Chaska, Ramsey or Woodbury. The group, whose
mission is affordable home ownership, is also buying four vacant houses
in St. Paul this month.
The work reflects what other Habitat
chapters are doing around the country, said Stephen Seidel, Habitat
International's director of field operations.
At the peak of the
real estate boom about three years ago, lots in a Chaska development
called Clover Field cost more than $60,000 apiece. In the past year,
Habitat bought lots there for $45,000 and $50,000. In Hopkins, the
organization is buying two more traditional single-family lots from the
city for $75,000 each, down from the list price of $89,000.
The
nonprofit and others like it are attempting to lock up as many lots as
they can at the lower prices before the market rebounds, and the state
is helping. In November, the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency awarded
Habitat a $1.4 million grant to purchase 28 to 35 parcels of land in
Carver and Scott counties.
In most cases, Habitat won't build on
a parcel until owning it for more than a year. The purchases are part
of a new approach it and the state call "strategic land acquisition."
"When
the market does turn around, we'll already have in place land for
affordable housing, which in growing suburban communities is so
difficult to get," said Tim Marx, state Housing Finance commissioner.
The
finance agency recently accepted applications for its next round of
grants, and Habitat is just one of a number of applicants seeking
funding for that purpose, he said. Others include local affordable
housing enterprises such as Chaska Community Land Trust, which makes
home-ownership affordable by selling the house but keeping the land.
Although
it still works in the core cities, since 2007 Habitat has striven to
build 75 percent of its houses in the suburbs, where schools are good,
the job market's growing and affordable housing is often needed.
Though
Habitat tends to build new housing, it also operates rehabilitation and
repair programs and will likely fix up, rather than raze and rebuild,
vacant houses that are in good shape.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
**This story was picked up by the following media outlets: KARE-11, KSTP, Minnesota Public Radio, WKBT (La Crosse), KX TV (Bismark), St. Cloud Times and the Grand Forks Herald.
|
