Here's the new proposal from last month's board meeting, which completely disregards the spirit of what was done in November. All the "free" money (0%, forgivable), and the resistance of some folks to placing income restrictions on that free money, is something I have always found puzzling. It occurred to me today to do the math on the distribution of housing money broken down by building size.
 |
| Houshold data from mncompass.org. |
I often point out that we're an 80%-plus renter neighborhood. Of course, some of those renters live in 1-4 unit buildings (duplexes, triplexes, etc). But 68% of people in Lowry Hill East live in buildings containing more than four units, and that number includes a lot of homeowners living in condos. Despite this, only 21% of housing money is going specifically to buildings larger than four units.
Here's another odd number: among the funds ($500,814) devoted to 1-4 unit buildings, $166,943 is forgivable. Even this smaller slice of forgivable money is more (by $8) than the total amount ($166,935) set aside for buildings larger than four units.
In addition to the problem of unbalanced allocation, I still say owners of historic, half-million-dollar Healy mansions should have to pay the money back at 3% like the rest of the neighborhood. If you agree, come to tonight's LHENA meeting: 7 PM, Jefferson media center.
Post-Meeting Update: "Historic Preservation Loans" were changed to reflect November's community vote. They will be paid back over 10 years at 0% interest.
