New Program to Increase Affordable Housing

12.09.2009 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) Sixty-four foreclosed homes in Utah have been purchased over the past 90 days to be turned into affordable housing units, under a public-private partnership funded with federal stimulus money. Governor Gary Herbert praised the program this morning for bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders to work toward a common goal.

“Don’t you think it’s impressive, when you have people from different philosophies — I mean I expect we have Republicans and maybe even some Democrats here, some Independent people — that have come together and said, we can do something to help with the affordable housing needs of Utah,” Herbert says.

The Utah Center for Affordable Housing is administering $13 million dollars of the $19.6 million in federal funds awarded to the state to stabilize the housing market. Under the program, the center purchases foreclosed homes from banks at a discount, sells them to neighborhood housing organizations for renovations, and then partners with lenders to sell them to low-income families. The profits from the program will be reinvested in an affordable housing fund.

Pamela Atkinson, a longtime advocate for the homeless, says it’s a miracle to have banks working closely with non-profit groups to improve the lives of the thousands of Utah families on the brink of homelessness.

“They’re people from the 90,000 the 6.4 percent who don’t have jobs. But this is one way of taking care of them. They can go to the shelter, that’s one room per family,” Atkinson says. “But then they need a home where they can perhaps gain some of the dignity that has been lost.”

Over the next five years, the program is expected to add an additional 1,000 affordable housing units across the state.