On Thursday, March 6, Councilwoman Debbie Campbell convened a panel of state experts to discuss access to resources for the development and preservation of affordable single-family and multifamily housing. The audience included developers, construction industry professionals and local non-profit partner representatives. Topics included state programs that provide:
grants and loans for development of new affordable single-family and multifamily housing;
grants and loans that make homeownership affordable;
grants and loans for the renovation and preservation of existing rental units;
funding for energy efficiency and lead paint abatement in owner occupied and rental properties; and
grants available to income-qualified seniors so that they can make modifications needed to remain in their homes.
Examples of “green” construction and some of the resources available to encourage environmentally friendly construction were also discussed. All employers who attended were encouraged to sign up for the State's "Live Near Your Work" program. Through this program, the state matches employer contribution dollar for dollar, and the current list of participating employers includes businesses of all sizes from very small and mid-size to the very large.
Participants brought their own “brown bag” lunches to council chambers in the Government Office Building in downtown Salisbury and enjoyed a casual atmosphere while listening intently. There was an active and instructive free-flowing dialog between presenters and participants that maximized the value of the information, Campbell observed.
PowerPoint(R) presentations on the various topics will be available. Campbell is making arrangements to have copies of the meeting handouts available at the joint city/county planning office.
Based on the sizable attendance, the scope of questions raised and comments from participants regarding the usefulness and quality of the information presented, the session was evaluated as a “resounding success.” Future sessions on foreclosure prevention, local resources for homeownership, and “green” construction and development are planned for the near future.
5 comments:
Thanks for informing the folks Joe.
God knows the newspaper does not want the citizens informed about anything but the awful Mayor.
Councilwoman Canpbell put on a great forum, and the folks from the State did a great job. It was a great to be able to get all that information on State Programs at one time, and learn how to navagate some of the housing programs anytime one can get information from the source it is a good thing. Thanks...Ms. Campbell, again. We will be at the next one too...Thanks Joe, keep us informed.
As a long-standing member of the real estate community, I appreciate ANY effort to show positive news about the housing market. Like most of my fellow Realtors, I'm sick to death of the sensationalization of the "bad market", which is all you see on the front page of the newspaper. It's a self-perpetuating horror story, regularly made even worse by negative stories. When theres a chance to spin it toward positive, they always go the other way. Shame on them. Hurray to people like Debbie Campbell, who is trying to point out and work toward something good.
I bet you did not that real estate sales in 2007 were the 5th best on record!
Debbie is a great leader and does
her job well.I wish that Shanie,
Smith amd Gary would attend some
of these forums. Maybe they could learn something.
They could attend, but it's not likely that they would "learn something"!
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