SAHA sweetens Mirasol buyback deals
The San Antonio Housing Authority's board of commissioners unanimously approved an enhanced buyback program Thursday that offers the most lucrative deal yet to homeowners in the beleaguered Mirasol Homes neighborhood. The majority of the families own one-story houses and would receive $30,000 compensation, while families who own two-story homes would receive $50,000...The roughly 20 families that initially sold their homes back to SAHA for an average of less than $25,000 won't receive any further compensation, Cavazos said.

SAHA sweetens Mirasol buyback deals
07/10/2008
By Josh Baugh
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   

The San Antonio Housing Authority's board of commissioners unanimously approved an enhanced buyback program Thursday that offers the most lucrative deal yet to homeowners in the beleaguered Mirasol Homes neighborhood.

The majority of the families own one-story houses and would receive $30,000 compensation, while families who own two-story homes would receive $50,000.

Board chairman Ramiro Cavazos said homeowners would soon receive written notice of the new incentives for a program that has seen little interest so far.

“This may increase the level of interest,” he said. “This is a little bit better than what they've been offered before.”

The roughly 20 families that initially sold their homes back to SAHA for an average of less than $25,000 won't receive any further compensation, Cavazos said.

Mirasol critic Ralph Velasquez, who sits on the Mirasol Task Force, called the enhanced buyback amounts “wonderful” but expressed regret that people who have already sold their homes would not get any more money.

Velasquez, who is in Washington, D.C., for the national convention of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said the plan leaves many “what abouts” with regard to Mirasol renters and others who are in the lease-to-purchase program.

“I'm not against it — I'm glad that it's happened,” he said. “But I'd like to see some kind of parity — something that doesn't penalize those folks who were forced because of circumstances to take the (original) buyback.”

Cavazos said SAHA has budgeted $1.5 million to repurchase Mirasol houses — the subject of continued complaints of shoddy construction and the possible cause of health problems.

That amount isn't enough to purchase all of the owned homes, but SAHA won't deny a family that wants to enroll in the program.

SAHA expects to bolster the buyback budget with the sale of vacant homes, which could be sold in bulk.

However, SAHA has stopped repairing vacant houses in the West Side subdivision because of rising costs and is focusing on occupied houses.

Cavazos expects that the new Mirasol project manager will tell the board's finance committee later this month that the repair bill could reach $7.1 million — well beyond the original $4.9 million that had been allocated.

The board will likely meet Monday to appoint an interim replacement for SAHA CEO Henry Alvarez, who resigned to take a similar position at the San Francisco Housing Authority.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA071108.01B.Mirasol_Buyback.EN.3f2c73f.html