Housing Comes First

HUD To Merge Officer and Teacher Next Door

from the September 8th edition of the Housing Assistance Council's HAC News:

Separate HUD notices make firefighters and emergency medical technicians eligible for the Officer Next Door sale program and propose regulations for combining OND and Teacher Next Door to create Good Neighbor Next Door. Comments are due Nov. 7. See Federal Register, 9/8/05, pp. 53487-88 and 53479-86, or http://www.hudclips.org.
Contact Joseph McCloskey, HUD, 202-708-1672.

Low-income communities like Syracuse have not been able to take advantage of this program, that gives teachers and cops a 50% discount on HUD Houses. Housing prices in our neighborhoods are very low, well-paid and unionized workers such as these can easily afford homes without such discounts. Their relatively high paying positions coupled with state laws exempting them from residency requirements, have created a mass exodus out to the suburbs.

The reform we need is to add teacher aides to the program. Teacher aides are definitely in need of financial assistance for home purchases, and more likely to want to live in our city neighborhoods.

posted by Phil @ 1:14 PM