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PAMELA GRINER LEAVYDunedin, Pinellas County and Tampa Bay Community Development Corporation join in a model housing project.
DUNEDIN - The American dream of home ownership became reality on Friday for Jane Beauchamp, manager of Locksmiths Hair Designers in Clearwater.
Her new, 1,250-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath home on a landscaped Palmetto Street in Dunedin is the model for the Palmetto Affordable Housing Project in Skinner's Park subdivision, a joint effort between Dunedin, Pinellas County and the private, non-profit Tampa Bay Community Development Corporation.
Beauchamp, a former Dunedin resident, said she's always wanted to return to her "favorite little town in Florida."
"I love it," Beauchamp, 56, said of the home she bought for $134,900 with her mother, Caroline Bileau. "It's just been a long time for me to have a place to call my own and all the things that go with it to keep it up, including the yard. You enjoy that and are proud of yourself for obtaining it."
Behind the house stand mixed-use residential-business condominiums selling for upwards of $400,000.
Single family home values in the neighborhood range from $60,000 to $140,000, according to Dunedin officials. The average price for existing homes in Pinellas County climbed to about $193,000 in 2003 and the 2004 average price for new homes built since 2001 has reached $393,000, according to the Pinellas property appraiser's office.
But Dunedin officials are trying to increase economic diversity in its redeveloping neighborhoods by making houses more affordable to people who might otherwise not be able to afford a home in neighborhoods like Skinner's Park.
That means the standard concept of designating specific geographic areas as low-income neighborhoods is outdated, said John Lawrence, Dunedin city manager.
"The days of segregated income classes should be over," he said. "All income classes should be divided throughout the community."
To that end, Dunedin is implementing the plan in Skinner's Park. Six homes are planned for Palmetto Street, all of them under contract to home buyers.
Pinellas County and Dunedin provide financing, permitting and land for the projects, and the Tampa Bay Community Development Corporation administers the program and guides home buyers through the loan process.
Beauchamp praised the effort, citing McCaughan Realty in Clearwater and the Tampa Bay Community Development Corporation for their involvement in helping first-time home buyers with the details of a home purchase.
"They require you to take a class on purchasing your home, getting the right Realtor, the right mortgage company, including details on working with Progress Energy to know how to cut costs for electricity," she said. "They are just out there to help people get into homes."
The program requires prospective home buyers to be financially able to either buy the home outright or maintain a mortgage.
To participate, the home buyers must also qualify for the income limits: $43,000 in annual income for a single person, $49,200 for a two-family household, and $61,400 for a family of four.
The county also provides assistance with financing help with loans at low interest rates. Home buyers needing assistance have two options. For example, a family of four earning $61,000 may receive $10,000 in loan help from Pinellas County, followed by a five-year loan grace period, and 10 years of payback at zero percent interest.
Another option offers up to $20,000 in assistance at interest rates of three to five percent with a 25-year payback period, according to Tampa Bay Community Development Corporation officials.
"The cost of housing is going up so fast that in this targeted neighborhood it means the client can qualify for a greater subsidy for the down payment and the funding comes from Pinellas County Community Development and the Tampa Bay CDC processes the loans for them," said Gregory Schwartz, Tampa Bay Community Development Corporation president and chief executive officer.
Near Palmetto Street is the planned $2.8-million Martin Luther King youth recreation complex, financed by the city and Penny for Pinellas. The new homes and the recreation center fit perfectly into Dunedin's multifaceted redevelopment and economic development plans, said Mayor John Doglione.
"We don't want to get into the real estate business, but we do want to be responsible and open the door for residential development," he said. "We are providing single families the road to pride of ownership."
The National League of Cities has called for more affordable housing across the United States, using the phrase "Resurrect the American Dream."
Home buyers across Pinellas County and Florida help subsidize affordable housing programs. Through the State Housing Initiatives Partnership, when a house is purchased, a portion goes into a state fund designed for county and city community development block grant funds.
In Pinellas County, there's been a conscious effort to build $100,000 houses near $300,000 houses and in a lot of other communities that's unusual, said Anthony Jones, affordable housing manager in the Pinellas County community development department.
"We think the secret here is to keep it the way it was in the old days," Jones said. "In the old days the doctor didn't live that far away from the ice man. We think that sense of diversity in the community is very important. You've got people that are role models and leaders there to serve the people that are role models and leaders. It doesn't serve any good to have all the poor people off in one corner."
Another necessary component in the plan is the builder, in this case C.M.L. Building Co. Inc. in Safety Harbor.
William Ferris, C.M.L. president, said he concentrates on affordable housing construction."It makes me feel good because I know we are building the homes for first-time home buyers and that's mainly what we do," he said.