Bill White For President...LOL

White's plan for housing bonus a bust
He drops idea to give real estate agents $5,000 for selling homes in depressed areas
By BRADLEY OLSON
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Oct. 14, 2009, 10:20PM


Mayor Bill White Wednesday yanked a proposal that would have given a $5,000 bonus to real estate agents whose clients buy homes subsidized by the city in depressed communities.

Several City Council members from across the political spectrum objected to the plan, saying they did not believe taxpayer money should be used to boost the incomes of professionals and the money could be better spent on other affordable housing priorities.

“In these tough fiscal times, we really need to be careful how we spend the limited resources that we have,” Councilwoman Jolanda Jones said. “It would be hard to explain to a senior whose house is falling in that we gave $5,000 to a realtor.”

White acknowledged after the meeting that the Houston Hope Real Estate Brokerage Services Incentive Program most likely was dead, although Jones' council housing committee will consider the matter more fully today.

The proposal would set aside $250,000 of affordable housing funds to pay real estate agents $5,000 if they represent a client who qualifies for down payment assistance and moves into newly built homes in one of eight revitalization areas across Houston. For years, White has championed a set of initiatives called “Houston Hope” designed to spur investment and development in several depressed communities using land obtained from foreclosed properties that were delinquent in paying property taxes.

Homes $150,000 or less
The city has marketed the lots to developers under the condition that they be turned into energy-efficient homes that sell for no more than $150,000. The city provides down payment assistance grants of up to $45,000 for qualifying buyers who make up to 120 percent of Houston's median income, which city officials said is about $76,000 for a family of four.

The revitalization areas include Acres Homes, Denver Harbor, Fifth Ward, Independence Heights, Near Northside, Settegast, Sunnyside and Trinity Gardens.

White said Wednesday that development has been brisk in Sunnyside and moderately strong in other areas, but had lagged in Trinity Gardens.

“We are looking at various incentives in areas where it has been the slowest,” he said. He also told council members the city had nearly $15 million in unspent affordable housing funds and said a number of items would be presented to council in the coming months regarding how some of that money would be used. “It behooves us not to sit on these monies for a long period of time, particularly given the housing market,” he said.