Editorial by Jed Crawford
The land laid vacant for
more than 20 years before ground broke in 2010 to build 32 affordable townhomes. For many people this was a long time coming
and seen as a new opportunity for people who lost their homes from “eminent
domain” and to have something to pass down to their loved ones. But through a technicality, money going
unused and a Mayor’s Office of Housing program that favors outsiders, “Urban
Renewal” is alive and well at Fillmore Park Townhomes.
The Mayor’s
Office of Housing through a technicality is determining which children can
receive redress from the acquisition of their parent’s property and defining
what it means to be displaced using the Property Owner and
Occupant Preference Program
(Certificate of
Preference Program), as stated in a resolution by the Redevelopment Agency,
which leaves out thousands of people. During the 60’s and 70’s if a child was born
after the parents homes were taken by the “Agency” their “Certificate of Preference”
could not be passed down. This doesn’t
take into account people who were denied the right to buy a home, or were
forced out of their apartments and businesses.
Another
unfortunate situation is the City is sitting on 4 million dollars set aside to
assist Certificate of Preference holders with purchasing a home. The townhomes only cost $200K-$300K and 4
million dollars can purchase twelve townhomes, why isn’t the City loaning “Certificate
of Preference” holders the money needed to get in? At a meeting in July of 2012, Michael Simmons
(developer of Fillmore Park Townhomes) explained “about 1000 people registered
online at our website for Fillmore Park Townhomes and 32 are Certificate of
Preference Holders.” He continued, “Six
of the 32 applied. Three could not secure a loan and
dropped out. One dropped out because...
only wanted a three bedroom… and didn’t have the house hold size to meet the
program. One dropped out because… felt
the units were too small. One is still
active.”
In
conclusion, the program of the Mayor’s Office of Housing is working against
Certificate of Preference holders by not setting aside all or a portion of the
townhomes for them which is in line with the very aim of the development to
bring justice and healing to the community.
Instead the Mayor’s Office of Housing is using the same “debt” strategy that
the SFRA used and creating a false sense of pressure and urgency to sell
townhomes while ignoring the needs of Certificate of Preference holders and not
taking the appropriate steps to define the meaning of “displaced”. The Mayor’s Office’s is requiring the
developer to borrow the City’s own money, borrow from a bank and then sell
townhomes to pay everyone back; rather than using the City’s land and money to
leverage and find grants to raise the small amount of money needed to build and
sell.
Pamela Sims of the Mayor’s Office
of Housing is the current contact person for the monitoring of this
program. According to Ms. Sims as of October
26, 2012 twenty-one of the units
have closed, 9 are in contract and
two units are remaining. I sent an email to Ms. Sims last week Nov. 28th
and asked how many of the people that moved in our Certificate of Preference holders
and requested a meeting with her to discuss setting aside the remaining two
townhomes for Certificate of Preference holders.
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