And an update tonight on a story we
brought you in June
when three families in newark were
selected by lottery
to be part of a new program turning
low-income residents
into homeowners today those families
were handed the keys to a place they can
now call their own
at a time when cities like newark are
struggling to boost homeownership
and pull people out of generations of
wealth disparities
Leah Mishkin reports as part of our
ongoing series
Chasing the Dream focusing on poverty
justice and
economic opportunity in america it's the
largest city in new jersey but home
ownership
is low about 70 percent of the residents
in newark
rent according to the local housing
authority this is
rooting back from the early 60s and the
riots and things that happened
and a lot of people moved out newark
resident and developer Arnita Rivers
explains people from out of town started
buying investment properties renting it
out and collecting a check
tenants sometimes don't feel like they
have a stake in the community
so i think that plays a big part and
then when you have homeowners
that don't maintain the property
this is what happens so the city of
newark is hoping to reverse this trend
by giving families a chance to
own their first home the goal with the
newark land bank
is to be able to sell the properties to
first-time home buyers
whether you're a newark resident or you
know someone looking to move to newark
and also there's going to be houses that
are set aside for the actual program for
the section 8 home ownership conversion
program
on wednesday three families selected via
lottery got to see their dreams come
true
closing on their first homes the homes
from the land bank were renovated for
families enrolled in the federal
section 8 rental assistance program the
neighborhood assistance corporation
structured payments so the three
families could use their section 8
housing choice voucher towards a
mortgage
and in 15 years time they'll own their
home fully paid
it's a great story to pull people from
renting for years using section 8
vouchers to put them into a home
uh this is what the american dream is
supposed to be about
in fact homeownership is the largest
reason that there's a huge wealth gap
between black and brown
and white families in america a lot of
the programs the homeownership programs
that have
existed historically you know didn't
find their way uh in our in our
communities
so uh that that plays a big role in
where we are as
a city and we're looking through these
programs to
turn the tide and assure that you know
equity is
being now targeted and built in
minority communities it's giving them
opportunities to get properties that's
affordable Rivers gave us a tour of the
home she built for one of the section 8
families
it used to be a blighted city-owned
property that was vacant for a number of
years
last month our cameras watch the family
who'll be moving in
taking a tour of the place for the first
time just seeing the kids run around
and a little girl talk about this like
my backyard i'm not leaving you know it
was
it brought tears to my eyes it was like
it was she's a hard-working mom and dad
you know the parents and to be able to
buy a home under this section a
program is a great opportunity it's a
legacy that she starts for
her children you see a home like this in
the neighborhood
everybody else starts investing starts
rehabbing because their property values
go up as well
right so you start seeing you know a
better quality of life develop
around this type of investment the city
is currently in the demolition phase on
four other properties to be awarded to
additional section 8 recipients as we
start
boosting that percentage of home
ownerships that means that there's
equity being built for city of newark
residents
so equality is very important to mayor
Baraka
in the city of newark for NJ Spotlight
News
i'm Leah Mishkin
major funding for chasing the dream is provided by
the jpb foundation with additional
funding from the peter g
peterson and joan ganz cooney fund
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