HUD FUNDNG

Gentlemen
    I realize that it has been difficult for many to understand why Nelson Self and I have ranted and raved about City Council changing many of the rules concerning
HUD CDBG funded programs over the past several years.
For many years HUD Funds were used primarily in the 1^st & 2^nd Wards because they had the highest poverty, highest crime rate and the greatest need.
All of this has changed since Mr. Adkins has taken over the Community Revitalization Department.
First the City Council did away with the Wards and reduced City Council to 5
Then Mr Adkins declared all of Middletown a SLUM under the 54% rule so he could use any HUD funds in any area of Middletown. Over the past several years these HUD funds have been used in the upper class neighborhoods while many high poverty high crime areas received no funding at all.
Below is a perfect example of what City Council and Mr. Adkins actions have now set in motion.
Now under this rule any law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians or teachers can purchase a home using HUD funds in any area of Middletown and get a 50% discount off the list price, even a house on Main Street or the Highlands Historic District.
 
HUD's Good Neighbor Next Door initiative is designed to encourage revitalization by assisting law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and teachers to purchase homes in target neighborhoods in Middletown. HUD provides a substantial incentive in the form of a fifty percent discount off the list price of eligible properties.   For information on the program, click here: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/reo/goodn/gnndabot.cfm
http://www.cityofmiddletown.org/community/comdev.aspx

It is time for City Council to change the current legislation and return these HUD funds back to the 1^st and 2^nd Ward where the need is greatest.

If I'm not mistaken, the homes available for this program are "owned" by HUD via foreclosures, etc.. I can tell you from personal experience that you don't have to be a policeman or fireman to buy a HUD owned home for 50% off "their" established value. It's commonplace..... per HUD's web site, in May '12, the last two Middletown properties sold for 36% and 23% of their assessed "tax" values.
Again, Ms. Viv has a habit of "leaving things out" if they don't tie in to her "personal" agenda.

Those on this blog are fully aware of the million dollars that have been wasted by the city on their real estate ventures. I don’t need to spin the facts…I just posted the numbers.   

TonyB,
I may be wrong, but my research concludes that there is no such thing as a HUD 54% rule (aka slum rule). It is a perfect example of how Ms. Viv's mis-statements get adopted as fact. My research indicates that Mr. Adkins discovered that the 2000 census showed that 54% of Middletown families were at a low or moderate income level. This "fact" qualified the entire city for NSP funding. Mr. Adkins pointed this fact out to city council and they agreed that revising the benefit to apply to the entire city was in the city's best interests.
Please take note...... the entire city qualified using 2000 census numbers. Can you imagine where those numbers are now!
I would agree that the entire city is not a slum. But who said that an area had to be a "slum" to qualify for this funding? It's another example of how Ms. Viv's misleading statements get adopted as fact on this board. Yesterday, she admitted that she coined the "slum" phases. Can you start to understand my frustration? If something is stated enough times, people tend to adopt is as truth. If my research is flawed, I invite anyone to prove otherwise. I am more than willing to go back to my source documents.