CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — In this week's Island Report, we went over the bridge to Flour Bluff to learn about a program through the Corpus Christi Housing Authority that is building new, affordable houses in neighborhoods that can use some help.
The program is fixing up neighborhoods in FB one house at a time.
"We're going into existing neighborhoods putting brand new houses up," Gary Allsup with CCHA said. "They are available for sale and available for rent."
But that's not what is unusual. It's where they are putting the houses that is unique. There's a brand new house next door to a weeded lot with a trailer that will soon be the site of another new house.
With help from the Housing Authority, buyers can purchase a three bedroom, two bath house for three-percent down and a monthly payment under $1,000 per month.
The Housing Authority prices them from $60,000 -$100,000, even though the appraisal value is just over $170,000. First time homebuyers walk in with equity before they even make the first payment. And there is also the option of renting.
So far, they have built 30 of them in the city and 10 in Flour Bluff. When you drop a row of houses into neighborhoods that could use some help, it isn't long before things start to shape up.
If an affordable house with a nice front yard and fence is the American Dream, this is where the dream meets reality.
There is no public money in these houses. They are privately financed through local banks and sold at prices just about everybody can afford.
A local program is making a difference in people's lives. A little good news in an otherwise tough year.
