JAMESTOWN – A first time homebuyer program with an emphasis on helping people that live next door to bad houses is being rolling out by a group dedicated to helping the north side of the city.
CODE, Inc., an agency that provides a variety of house services in the City of Jamestown and throughout Chautauqua County, said their program will not incentivize people that can’t afford a house.
“If you can’t afford a house in Jamestown, you shouldn’t be buying a house,” said Pat Morris, Executive Director of CODE. “What we’re trying to do is give an incentive to someone who’s going to be buying a home anyway, but we hope we’re going to be encouraging them to buy a house that’s in worse shape than they would be buying otherwise and we’ll help fix the house up.”
Morris says the program will help the neighborhood and it will stabilize the tax base.
The program comes with a deed restriction on it the purchaser has to live there for 15 years to ensure the house doesn’t fall into the hands of “flippers”(flipping real estate come from either buying low and selling high or buying a house that needs repair and fixing it up before reselling).
“We want people who want to come, live in the neighborhood, and be part of the community,” said Morris. “We’re not targeting any particular neighborhoods, it’s people who want to be in the city and in the neighborhood that they want to be in.”
People that are interested in learning more about this program or filling out an application should stop by CODE’s offices at 411 Windsor St.
“Home ownership is very important to the community,” said Morris. We’re trying to provide a broad spectrum of housing options for people in the city.”
Morris added that CODE also has a program geared toward disabled veterans who were injured during a time of war.
For more information, you can call (716) 664-2044 between the hours of 9-5 Mon through Friday.