Henderson should seek the expertise of the state Division of Community Assistance in its quest for federal housing dollars to make homeownership more affordable, say two federally funded experts who visited the city last week.
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) consultants Dorothy Reiser of Denison Associates and Yolanda Porche of Centerscope Technologies concluded their two-day visit to Henderson on Friday afternoon. The visit was the first in a series of four the two will make to the area over the next five months.
The two originally visited and toured Henderson in January as part of HUD’s College of Experts program. That program brings experienced, technically savvy people to communities in need of assistance and advice with housing and development.
Based on that visit, they applied for a full area study of Henderson east of Young Avenue. HUD rejected the proposed outlay of $120,000 as excessive, largely because Henderson is not a HUD entitlement city — a city that, based on size, gets HUD money by right instead of by grant.
The consultants successfully reapplied to help Henderson gain access to HOME funds, which are federal dollars administered by individual states for housing initiatives. The Housing Finance Agency (HFA) administers North Carolina’s funds and grants up to $20,000 per home buyer as a subsidy.
Reiser and Porche spent most of last Thursday in fact-finding meetings.
They met in Raleigh with Sonia Joyner of the HFA. She explained how the HOME money works and how to apply. The city must complete Part 1 of the application, describing how the administrative structure will pass out money and how homeowner education will be structured. Other issues will be worked out project to project.
The consultants also stopped at the DCA in Raleigh and met with Jack Newman, the chief planner; Vickie Miller, the assistant director, who visited Henderson a few months ago and administers the Community Development Block Grant program; and John Morck, a senior planner. They plan to lay out a series of options for Henderson based on such issues as infrastructure, crime, housing conditions, streams, railroad safety and future road projects.
The HUD experts’ first stop in Henderson was at Franklin-Vance-Warren Opportunity, where they met Thursday afternoon with Bill Owen, the chief executive officer. The nonprofit group conducts a lot of homeowner education in Vance. Owen said the $20,000 HOME subsidy isn’t enough to bring home buying into reach for many families.
On Friday, the visitors met with Mayor Clem Seifert’s housing task force in the morning and presented their findings to that group in the afternoon.
Their immediate suggestion is for the city to seek out the expertise of the DCA in studying issues and determining where HOME dollars would be best used. The DCA would fill in the information the originally planned HUD College of Experts study would have provided.
The City Council must pass a resolution to accept the DCA’s assistance. Such action could come as soon as today, when the council is meeting during a called meeting at 5 p.m.
Reiser and Porche hope to return to Henderson in late July to check on progress and review the findings of the DCA in the city.
— Written by Brad Breece