Surplus Becker homes to be sold

By CHRIS YOUNG
Two of the eight surplus houses that the city bought around Becker Road for the Interstate 95 interchange won't go to the auction block after all.

Community Services Director Trisha Swift-Pollard said her department will buy two of the homes and resell them to families on the waiting list for the city's housing program at the same price the city paid originally.

Advertisement "I'm sure for the people approved on the list, we'll find two families who think it's the greatest deal ever," she said.

The applicants need to qualify for a first mortgage, but the city will give them a zero-percent loan on the difference between the home cost and their mortgage, she said. The loan needs to be paid back when the house is sold.

City officials said they will auction off the other houses at a future date and might demolish three of them because of extensive damage.

The city bought the houses from residents several years ago to make way for the interchange, but the onramp design was modified to take up less land, resulting in extra houses the city no longer needed.

The houses are vacant and mostly stripped of appliances, according to city records. Neighbors at a public hearing Thursday on the I-95/Becker Road interchange said they thought mold might have grown in them, especially the houses with roof damage.

Swift-Pollard said her department will pay for inspections, but walk-throughs showed the conditions were "fairly good." "We didn't want houses with a lot of work needed," she said.
The value of the homes is in the $160,000 range, a good deal considering the average price for a local home, she said.

Neighbors also said they heard that St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity was going to refurbish the surplus houses, but Habitat Executive Director Al Rivett said his group wasn't working on any homes in the Becker Road area.