Bridge City Realtor and local business owner Velma Wilson loves her neighborhood of Brainerd. With Brainerd being one of the three areas in Chattanooga, along with East Chattanooga and the Southside, identified as having a high number of foreclosures, Wilson knew she wanted to do whatever she could to help revitalize these properties and thereby revitalize these Chattanooga areas.
Wilson heard about the federal grant program called the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), and she decided to become a partner with the program. She initially got together her co-workers at Bridge City Realty and they all began looking into the criteria for application. Upon applying, they realized that a real estate company could not be one of the partners in the program. Wilson says there was no way she was going to consider not doing this program, and so she teamed up with Global Impact Construction Company and began the process of rehabilitating homes in Brainerd.
“One of the wonderful things about the NSP program is not only do you get the opportunity to build new homes, and green homes at that, but you also get to revitalize a neighborhood that has been in existence for awhile,” Wilson says. “Of course, with all the foreclosures, it brings the market down in that particular neighborhood. What the federal government did was provide a program where you can come in, rehabilitate the foreclosure houses and make them market value. It is in this way that a neighborhood can retain its market value.”
Wilson and her construction company partner bought 4358 Shawnee Circle, gutted the house, and completely redid the home, bringing in everything new. They had to go through lead based paint procedure and many other procedures on the checklist to get the property ready for sale. The hard work has paid off, as the property is set to close this week, says Wilson.
The U.S. Congress passed the legislation and funded this program that enables states and local governments to establish initiatives to acquire and renovate foreclosed, vacant, and abandoned residential properties. It was APD Urban Planning and Management, LLC that was hired to develop a NSP Implementation Plan that would help the City of Chattanooga design a strategic approach to stabilizing the select areas of focus.
The program began here in 2010, when $2.1 million was awarded to Chattanooga by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s NSP to curb the effects of foreclosures in local communities. The Shawnee Circle home received $74,000 of this money for the revitalization of the home.
The money is disbursed through the City of Chattanooga’s Department of Neighborhood Services and Community Development and has worked to repair two other homes in Brainerd: one on North Moore Road and one on Old Mission Road. Sandra Gober, manager of Chattan-ooga’s Community Development office, and Beverly Johnson head up the program with which local non-profits and for-profits facilitators like Realtor Velma Wilson have become involved.
There are three strategies within the NSP: the foreclosure strategy, stabilization strategy, and revitalization strategy. The foreclosures strategy involves acquisition and renovation of foreclosed homes through areas of greatest need like Chattanooga’s Brainerd, East Chattanooga and the Southside areas.
The objective of the foreclosure strategy is to return properties to re-use as efficiently and quickly as possible.
A carefully planned foreclosure strategy can help to slow down the neighborhood decline associated with foreclosures in traditionally stable areas and stop the decline in neighborhoods at the “tipping point.” Properties that qualify are foreclosed single-family units or residential properties.
The foreclosure strategy performance outcomes are to increase the number of qualified homeowners residing in NSP areas of greatest need; identify, acquire, rehabilitate and sell foreclosed properties; increase long-term affordability; and increase quality property management and upkeep of vacant properties.
With the focus area of revitalization, this program provides money to build green homes in areas of need. With these green home building and foreclosure rehabilitations, things such as R19 insulation installed in the exterior garage walls, low VOC paints inside the home, water conservation products and low-flow toilets and faucets installed, and similar measures are done.
Foreclosures chosen for revitalization in the areas of need are also assessed based on the amount of work that has to be done to them to get them back to their natural state, Wilson says. The funds of the program go to rehabilitating the home, but also to assistance for someone who wants to buy the property and qualifies.
Down payment assistance can reach up to $14,000 for those who qualify for these incentives provided by the federal government. Incentives are awarded based on limited income base, the size of the household, and the property being owner occupied. Incentive amount on these properties is a forgivable mortgage and not a grant.
Wilson says: “With Chattanooga being the number three city to live in, what I really liked about the program is that it gives Chattanooga an opportunity to have all of these neighborhoods in these areas brought back up to the bar. That way it’s not just focused on one location, but Chattanooga has a great opportunity to have all these areas as nice and safe neighborhoods.”
The efforts also inspire the neighborhoods. Wilson says that when work began on the Shawnee Circle home, neighbors in the area began fixing up their own yards and properties.
Wilson says she knows that other Realtors that are involved with the program have built houses and need them sold. She says that any readers that know of clients that can meet the incentive criteria should contact these Realtors.
For more details on the program or to find a Realtor involved with these properties, contact Wilson at 423-553-0872.