Home ownership, vacant lots, and Historic Preservation?
Home ownership has many benefits for families, neighborhoods, and for the houses themselves. Yet, in a time with high rates of home foreclosures and unemployment, home ownership is out of reach for many families and renting is the only option. When discussing community safety and community building, several of the residents we spoke with indicated that the lack of home owners and the abundant numbers of rental units (in addition to other social issues) caused neighborhood instability and depressed housing stock. But is there more to the story? Home owners versus renters may be false dichotomy with one being good for neighborhood life and the other being bad. It seems moving less often and taking stake in the same neighborhood block, whether renting or owning, is most important.
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Will these new homes preserve the look of the neighborhood and support neighborhood identity and cohesion?
For the past several years, new homes have been constructed on empty lots. What role does historic preservation have as the city looks to increase home ownership and re-build parts of the central city? How can we support new and existing home owners as well as low- and middle-income home owners in maintaining their older homes?
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Page by Nicole Robinson, Milan Outlaw, & Godson Mollel