The problem with these types of dreamers is that they think they can slap some paint on an abandoned house and it is rehabilitated. The reality is that in the past these types of properties have been spruced up by dreamers and then the dreamers run out of money with 80% of the work not done. So the house is abandoned again and the process repeats. It usually take over $100,000 to repair a house like this one. Some people don't realize this, and think they can get a house for $1 and put $100 of paint on it. Not reality baby.
Even worst, groups like PUSH feed the dreams of dreamers and delay the inevitable, demolition of these old clunkers. If the City could knock down the house, a developer could come in and build a new house. Maybe one that someone could buy for under $100,000 that is in new condition. But, that is not PUSH's agenda. PUSH just wants to make itself the "voice" of poor people, but isn't interested in making poor people, well unpoor. PUSH wants poor people to be dependent on them and to enslave them to PUSH's welfare mentality.
Stand up to PUSH Mayor Brown and knock down these old clunkers. Sell the land to developers for $1 with the provision that they build new replacement housing for low-income families. Let's stop tinkering with 100 year old tinder boxes that are inefficient money pits and build some safe and affordable housing for the people who need it.
The News, Briefly
Slow Going: The Trials of Buying the City's Abandoned Properties
by Geoff Kelly
Amanda Mulrain and Steve Connors fell in love with the house next door.
Amanda Mulrain and Steve Connors
It’s not pretty—it is, in fact, quite a daunting project. The house at 288 Hudson Street had been widowed when its owner of more than 60 years passed away. It’s been vacant since 2004. It was struck to the city in 2006. The city has shown the house to 85 prospective buyers; all 85 have walked away.
Mulrain has lived next door to 288 Hudson for nearly five year, and observed the house’s abandonment and decline. She and Connors saw a chance to step in and save it, making a home for themselves into the same bargain.
On May 5 of this year, Mulrain and Connors delivered a letter on intent to the City of Buffalo’s real estate department, expressing their interest in homesteading the decaying house—that is, buying it for one dollar plus closing costs, in exchange for p[rovinding the city with a rehabilitation plan and evidence of the ability to pay for the work.
The response was a combination of stasis, confusion, and chaos. They were told that the had to fill out an application and provide numerous documents. They did, and then they were asked to fill out the same forms and provide the same documents again. They were told the application would take six months to approve, and then another four to six weeks awaiting Mayor Byron Brown’s signature.
The six-month delay would cost them the summer construction season, and in the meantime the house would continue to fall apart. And if a cash offer came to the city in the course of those six months, it would drop their application.
“We’re saying the process takes too long,” Connors said on Tuesday, when PUSH Buffalo members rallied in front of 288 Hudson to call attention to the obstacles ordinary citizen encounter in trying to acquire and rehab city-owned prperties. “We’ve been working on this for a month and we’re in the same exact place we started. It’s no wonder that Mayor Brown is sitting on thousands of properties.”
“We’re just trying to save one house from falling apart the way so many other houses on this street have fallen apart,” said Mulrain.
Read more about 288 Hudson Street, and watch video of the PUSH protest on Tuesday at AV Daily at Artvoice.com.
—geoff kelly
Reader Comments (posting new comments is closed!)
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StreetWise 12 Jun 2008, 10:19
westsidemike 13 Jun 2008, 17:27
Sure, because we need MORE housing in the city? Your idea to build new is not the answer. I agree that many people don't realize what it takes to rehab a house, but building a new one is not the answer.
maureenshea-keicher 07 Sep 2008, 20:29
A friend of mine came in town for a auction on that house and was out bid by $100.00. And if the first bidder did not go thru the 2nd bidder would be called. NO CALL! The house went in auction for $10,100.00. What happened to the couple that bougth in house in the auction. And why was my friend never called about the deal never going thru.
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