Yesterday I was handed the keys to our Wolcott Homes project in Rainier Beach. The previous developer was foreclosed on mid-construction and Homestead was able to purchase the project at a discount. Wolcott currently has 5 completed homes and 10 partially built. These 3 and 4 bedroom homes are perfect for families. We’ll begin to sell the completed homes in November starting at $190,000, and will finish the partially built homes over the next year or two. As always, these homes will be kept permanently affordable through the land trust.
Amidst all this excitement, it is important to reflect for a moment on what this success means for the families and communities we work with.
Household Stability: a family of six makes the move into their new home near their children’s school, finding stability after being forced to move five times in the last five years.
Building Community: Nova townhomes are now sold out! The new owners are having summer and fall potlucks to get to know each other.
Growing family wealth: 53 families were able to take advantage of the 1st time homebuyer tax credit that expired this year. This amounts to $424,000 in collective wealth building for these low to moderate income households.
Strengthening Community: 93 homes are owner occupied by land trust buyers who, according to national statistics, are eight times less likely to be foreclosed on than traditional homeownership. We’ve had zero foreclosures at Homestead.
Housing is a powerful force in our lives. Most of the housing news these days is about how housing is dragging families, communities and our economy down, as the foreclosure crisis widens and deepens.
Homestead is part of an under-reported but powerful counter trend. Our homes stabilize families, build household wealth, support home values community wide, and build community investment through owner-occupancy. Now that’s something to celebrate!
Sheldon Cooper, Executive Director of Homestead
