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The Springfield Project-Home Ownership Program for
Equity will soon break ground on five new homes for low-income residents,
with an additional 10 to follow, thanks to funding allocated by the City
Council this week. The city had previously given $200,000 for
home-construction costs to TSP-Hope Inc. for the new homes, and on Tuesday
an additional $150,000 was authorized for use in homebuyer subsidies once
construction is complete. Ron Fafoglia, the organization’s executive
director, says the eight-year-old organization would not be able to
function without grants from sources such as the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development, the Illinois Housing Development Authority, and the
city of Springfield. “We’re very pleased with the way the city
has responded to our efforts with work on the east side of
Springfield,” Fafoglia says. “They’ve been very helpful
with what we’re doing over here.”
TSP-Hope’s mission is to revitalize
neighborhoods on the east side by purchasing and restoring dilapidated
homes and by constructing new energy-efficient homes for low-income
residents. To date, Fafoglia says, the organization has rehabbed seven
homes and completed construction on 15 new homes, which include three or
four bedrooms, full basements, all-new appliances, and two-car garages and
are accessible by people with disabilities. “They’re nice homes,” Fafoglia
says. “They’re not what you think of as typical low-income
houses that just get thrown on slabs.”
Once the homes are built, TSP-Hope sells them to
low-income families — usually female-headed households, Fafoglia says
— at discounted rates. He says the ranch-style homes usually require
monthly payments of $550 a month, including taxes and insurance; the
two-story homes cost $650 a month. To qualify for the homes, the homebuyer must enroll
in TSP-Hope’s seven free basic home-maintenance classes and
homeownership seminars, in addition to participating in credit counseling.
He or she must also agree to live in the homes for at least five years. Fafoglia says the goal of the whole process is to
dissuade families from renting and to instead purchase a home and build
equity.
“This is to help solve some of the problems on
the east side of Springfield, and it’s not as much of a handout as it
is a hand up,” he says.
Other organizations in the area, such as Abundant
Faith Christian Center are also working to solve the affordable-housing problem. Last
year, using $80,000 of the city’s Community Development Block Grant
funds, the ministry constructed an eight-plex for permanent housing for
low-income female-headed households.
Abundant Faith received another $75,000 in CDBG money
toward the construction of an independent senior living facility called
Timberlake Estates. Located just north of the church, the $9 million,
64,000 square-foot facility will boast a café, a beauty salon and
barbershop, sunrooms, a theater, prayer rooms, and a fitness center that
overlooks a pond. Security will operate on a key-card system, and residents
will be able to see visitors before admitting them to the building by
logging on to a Web site. Prospective residents, many of whom have already
applied for one of the 60 one- and two-bedroom apartments, must be at least
55 years old. Rents, which will be based on income, will range from $439 to
$700 per month and will include electricity. About a third of the units are
reserved for Section 8 housing. According to project manager Sheleda Doss, the
three-story building is expected to be completed next month.
R.L. Nave contributed to this report.
This article appears in Nov 1-7, 2007.
