This is part of an article I wrote here in Fillmore. I covered the City Council meeting and the Redevelopment Agency Board which was asked to convert an Agency loan to a Grant due to present economic downturn. In 2007, the Agency conveyed the land to the Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation (Developer) for the purpose of construction 8 units for sale to extremely low and very low income families (Affordable Units), and made a loan to Developer in the amount of $1,318,348 (Agency Loan). The Agency also agreed to assist homebuyers with additional loans of $50,000 per unit (Homebuyers Loans). Since 2007 the estimated fair market value of the unites has dropped by approximately 50%, and like many similar projects started at the height of the real estate market, the project can no longer be sold for what it cost to build. The Developer has requested that the Agency convert its Agency Loan and some of the Homebuyers Loans to non-repayable grants.
The Developer has made similar requests to the other governmental lenders to the project, and the County of Ventura has agreed. The Developer has agreed to cover any cash shortfall up to $5,000 per unit from the sale of the Affordable Units and to reduce its Developer Fee of $150,000 to $30,000.
The Developer has not identified buyers for 4 of the units, 2 of which are currently to be sold to households earning no more than 45% of Area Median Income (AMI). The Developer has requested that if such households cannot be located by December 31, 2010 it be permitted to sell those two units to households earning up to 50% of AMI which would broaden the number of potential buyers.
The Council had no choice but to approve the conversion or lose over a million dollars of City funds. The conversion was unanimously approved by the Council, but not without a scolding of the Developer by Mayor Walker and the rest of the Council. Mayor Walker let it be known of her disapproval of the so called “affordable” housing selling for over $400,000 per unit at the height of the market. All Council Members were in agreement with the Mayor.
But the bottom line is that the City and the few tax paying residents (remember this town has only 16,000 residents, many living on HUD/Welfare/SSI etc) are the ones left holding the bag on these "Low Income" scams. This town is barely holding on. The new pool, which has barely been opened for a year, will be closing for all the winter months due to no funds. Yet, go down any street and you'll see strowler after strowler, many are double strowlers, with a pregnant woman pushing them and at least one or two kids in tow.
Fillmore is an incorporated city, so the buck stops at the City Council. It is a perfect microcosm of California.
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