Mirasol hope may flicker out
Bad timing has left some San Antonio Housing Authority residents scrambling to try to buy a home in one of the toughest mortgage markets in years...The idea was to create homeowners. But the “purchase” part of the lease-to-purchase program expires in January, which means residents must buy homes now or lose the credits they've built up over the years.In some cases, the so-called “capital accumulation account” tops $20,000. George Alejos, a League of United Latin American Citizens official who has worked with many Mirasol residents, said most families are at risk of losing their accumulation. “Now that the mortgage meltdown is happening, these people cannot get a loan,” he said. “Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of these people won't qualify for a loan.”...Patricia Cabrera and her children left their mold-infested home and lived in a hotel for a while, until SAHA stopped paying the bills there. Now the family is scattered, living with various relatives. Cabrera does not expect to be able to tap into her capital accumulation.  See photos

Mirasol hope may flicker out
By Jennifer Hiller - Express-News

Bad timing has left some San Antonio Housing Authority residents scrambling to try to buy a home in one of the toughest mortgage markets in years.

A lease-to-purchase program — not open to newcomers — for years set aside a portion of monthly rent as a credit in hopes that renters in the troubled Mirasol neighborhood could one day use it toward the purchase of a home.

The idea was to create homeowners. But the “purchase” part of the lease-to-purchase program expires in January, which means residents must buy homes now or lose the credits they've built up over the years.

In some cases, the so-called “capital accumulation account” tops $20,000.

About 20 families were part of the program and can still buy a home in Mirasol or elsewhere — if they qualify.

“That's always the tricky thing,” said SAHA spokesman Gavino Ramos. “They have to first qualify for a home, and not many have.”

Mortgages that were available to those with spotty credit records a few years ago have vanished this year. Now many lenders require down payments and solid credit histories.

George Alejos, a League of United Latin American Citizens official who has worked with many Mirasol residents, said most families are at risk of losing their accumulation.

“Now that the mortgage meltdown is happening, these people cannot get a loan,” he said. “Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of these people won't qualify for a loan.”

Many of the lease-to-purchase families lived in the 246-home Mirasol neighborhood, which has been plagued by shoddy construction, cracked foundations, drainage problems and mold.

While many of the homeowners in Mirasol have been able to accept buyout packages from SAHA and move on to other homes, some who were in the lease-to-purchase program say they are stuck in a sort of housing limbo.

Patricia Cabrera and her children left their mold-infested home and lived in a hotel for a while, until SAHA stopped paying the bills there. Now the family is scattered, living with various relatives.

Cabrera does not expect to be able to tap into her capital accumulation.

“Right now I'm still in the system. I can still buy the home, buy another home or go to public housing,” Cabrera said. But there's a problem. “I don't qualify to purchase the home. It's sad.”

SAHA plans to ask the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for an extension of the January deadline to give people such as Cabrera more time to repair their credit records and wait for the lending market to loosen.

But even if an extension is granted, residents say there are other issues with the program.

Sandra Flores said it has been hard to get straight answers from SAHA about how exactly one can tap into a capital accumulation account. “They have different people on their board all of the time. Papers get lost and we're the ones that have to deal with it,” she said.

Flores said it looks like she and her husband will be able to use their capital accumulation — about $20,000. She even found a lender. “Right now it's going through, thank god,” she said.

Others say they are having a hard time proving they were ever part of the program.

Henrietta DeHoyos, who is disabled, used to live in Mirasol with her mother, who died last year.

“I've been asking for the leases I signed,” DeHoyos said. “They can't find them. They can't tell me how much the cash accumulation is.”

SAHA could not provide a figure for the amount of money families accumulated. Anything over $200 a month in rent went toward the credit. But Ramos said there is no separate account for the capital accumulation, and that it is not like a savings or escrow account.

“When we sell a SAHA house, whatever money we make goes into the kitty,” Ramos said. “There is no cash. There is no money. We were using the money that would come from the sale of a home.”

Alejos said the lack of a distinct fund is troubling.

“They've got no intentions of allowing these people to buy these houses,” he said. “They don't have the money to begin with.”

But Ramiro Cavazos, chairman of SAHA's board of commissioners, said he hopes some families will indeed become homeowners.

“If they have paid into that, that credit might not be held by a bank, but it's a credit that they've earned,” he said.
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