Housing Help

Darla Miles reports

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ARLINGTON — About 100 Arlington families lose their homes to foreclosures a month.

Now, the city is introducing what it has called a "Neighborhood Stabilization" plan that aims to get families back into homes within the next four years.

David Easley says he is one of the lone survivors of foreclosure in his south Arlington neighborhood.

"In Arlington, this is the worst zip code for foreclosures," he said of the area he lives in.

Easley said he has seen seven homes foreclosure in his subdivision. The loss is something Easley said he feels as well.

"This is our first house and we were really hoping to maybe turn it around in five years or so," he said. "It's not looking like that's even possible at this point with this neighborhood."

Two areas in Arlington have experienced a high saturation of foreclosed homes - including in the central east near New York Avenue and Mayfield Road and in the southeast near Cooper Street and Mansfield-Webb Road. The southeast area is where Councilman Robert Rivera's district resides.

"The larger number of vacancies and the larger number of foreclosures in any area sometimes does have a negative effect in terms of code enforcement violations, crime issues," he said.

This is why the city of Arlington plans to infuse $2 million into the two hard hit neighborhoods. Through the plan, federal grant money will help potential homebuyers with down payments, closing costs and repairs for foreclosed homes.

"This happens to be our tenth stop, so far," said Nona Nua as she went shopping for a home with her family Sunday.

Nua said they are counting on some type of financial assistance to buy a foreclosed home.

"We're, as it is, struggling now from paycheck to paycheck just to make sure ends meet," she said. "So, that would be great, a perfect idea."

Financial assistance will range from $15,000 to $40,000. The foreclosed home may also be sold at five to 15 percent discount.

The city hopes to roll out the program in March, which will be after they get final approval for the federal grant.

A town hall meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Bob Duncan Center on Center to answer questions.

E-mail dmiles@wfaa.com