• •

JOE, KEN & GRACE

AT

CCRITURN CAMERA

in Royal Oak

Painting
The Town

Neighborhood Project is launching a new loan
program to hep homeowners spruce up their domains.

_JULIE EDGAR
• Senior Writer

eighborhood Project, the 10-
year-old Federation program
that provides interest-free
loans to Jewish home buyers,
is changing with the times — and they
• are good.
Simply put, homeowners in Oak
• -Park and Southfield are staying put,
'—tightening the market for new buyers.
The consequent drop in applications
for loans to meet down payments or
closing costs has prompted
;Neighborhood Project to look outward.
Homeowners who meet certain cri-
• teria may apply for up to $5,000 for
exterior fix-up projects.
"The houses here were built in the
'50s and '60s, so they're 40 years old.
They need windows, they need roofs,
they need siding, they need landscap-
ing, they need everything a 40-year-old
house needs. There's an enormous need
for this," said Neighborhood Project
7 \ Director Marion Freedman.
I
The number of applicants for loans
to buy homes has dropped dramatical-
ly over the past two years, Freedman
\_--said. In the first year of the program,
/--- 144 loans were granted. In 1992 and
1993, just over 100 people received
loans. Last year, the number dropped
- to 72, and this year, Freedman expects
about the same.
North Oak Park, in particular, "is
such a desirable neighborhood, people
don't want to move. They're clamoring
to get in there," she said. By updating
its mailing list, Neighborhood Project
has been able to keep tabs on the
properties still occupied by loan recip-
ients. Freedman said about 75 percent
of them still live in the homes or in
, another nearby.
/-
The area north of 10 Mile Road is
in the Berkley School District and is
close to Orthodox shuls and schools, so
both Orthodox and non-Orthodox
i _jews are attracted to it, she pointed out.
Similarly, the northern part of
Southfield is attractive because it is in
the Birmingham School District and
the area encompasses Young Israel of

`-

/-

Southfield, Congregation Shaarey
Zedek, Congregation Beth Achim,
Akiva Day School and other Jewish
institutions.
Since its inception a decade ago,
Neighborhood Project has provided
975 interest-free loans to Jews buying
homes in Southfield and Oak Park.
The loans, used for down payments or
closing costs, have been distributed
evenly between the two cities.
The goal of Neighborhood Project is
to enhance and create a Jewish presence
in areas that were once heavily Jewish,
and the expansion and construction
going on in the area are evidence of its
success, Freedman said, pointing to
synagogue expansion and building pro-
jects in the 10 Mile-Greenfield area in
Oak Park and new Jewish retail busi-
nesses at 10 Mile and Southfield roads.
Oak Park Building Assessor Ron
Sztumerski attributes increased residen-
tial property values in Oak Park, partic-
ularly on its north side, to several fac-
tors, among them the newer housing
stock in the area, Berkley schools, a
sarong economy, and the completion of
the 1-696 corridor.
"There was a lot of uncertainty
about what the [1-696] project was
going to end up being, and it had a big
effect on homes a quarter-mile south
and north of 696. The market didn't
do well for the time it took to con-
struct the freeway, but since it opened
in 1990, people started to understand
what was truly there."
Of the $1.3 million currently in
the Neighborhood Project fund,
$200,000 will be dedicated to the
home improvement program.
Freedman noted that Neighborhood
Project has provided loans for home
improvement in the past, but they
were not interest-free.
Applicants for the new loans must
not carry more than a $2,000 balance
on other loans from Neighborhood
Project and must show they have clear
title to the home.

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9/26
1997

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