Elgin to use federal money for 12 homes for the poor

In a market flooded with foreclosures, Elgin leaders hope energy-efficient furnaces and appliances, along with tankless water heaters, will tip the balance in their favor.

These features, where applicable, will be included as the city uses $2.1 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to buy, rehab and resell foreclosed homes to low- and moderate-income buyers.

"We're giving them a house that's hopefully maintenance-free (for a several years)," said Matthew Fitzgibbon, the city's planning manager, who noted the energy-efficient effort is not only sustainable but is "the right thing to do in the long run."

The city probably will have enough money for about 12 homes through the federal government's Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Of those homes, 25 percent must be marketed to low-income buyers. So the city will partner with Habitat for Humanity to rehab and sell four homes.

"This was identified as the strategy from the get-go," Fitzgibbons told city council members Wednesday night. "This is Habitat for Humanity's specialty."

The city will target four neighborhood groups: the Northeast Neighborhood Association, the Southwest Area Neighborhood, the Gifford Park Association and the Near West Neighborhood Association.

The city also will look at properties that can be deconverted from multiple apartments back to single-family homes, along with those on high-profile street corners or with significant architecture.

Elgin officials hope to buy the homes in the fall and winter to begin work in the spring. They will assemble a pool of qualified contractors and let each bid on each individual home.

City council members stressed the importance of new-homeowner classes, which are mandated in the federal grant, to ensure another foreclosure won't occur. The city also will pre-qualify buyers.

"I'd hate for us to rehab a place and not be able to sell it," Councilman Robert Gilliam said.

Homes: Habitat for Humanity to be involved