Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 9, 1990                   TAG: 9006090104
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE SHENANDOAH BUREAU
DATELINE: LEXINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

LEXINGTON SAYS GRANT WOULD STABILIZE HOUSING

The grant would help renovate 55 homes in the neighborhoods known as Green Hill and Diamond Hill, said City Manager Joe King. The adjacent neighborhoods are heavily black, with a large percentage of low- to moderate-income residents.

Residents have complained that the migration of Washington and Lee University students into the neighborhoods is driving up housing prices, making it tough for some low-income residents to remain there.

King said the grant money will allow the city to buy dilapidated homes in the two neighborhoods, fix them up and then rent or sell them to low-income residents. In the past, he said, rundown homes there largely were bought by landlords who would restore them and then rent them to W&L students.

Permanent residents say the students can afford to pay more than many who live in the neighborhoods year-round.

King said he was told Friday that the Department of Housing and Urban Development grant tentatively had been awarded. He said the city must provide more information before the money will be released.

"If we can live up to our end of the contract, we'll definitely get it," King said.

The project requires a $202,000 local share. In addition, local banks have agreed to chip in some $200,000 for a "loan pool." King said the city would use the loan money to buy houses and the grant money to fix them up. Afterward, the city would sell or rent the homes to low-income residents only.

The grant also would pay for renovations to privately owned homes if the occupants met low-income requirements, King said.

"I think it's really an exciting opportunity to stabilize the Green Hill/Diamond Hill area for family occupancy," King said. "It is not intended to drive students out of the area. It will stabilize the area."

Lexington's application was one of 27 approved in Virginia out of 68, said Bill Shelton, associate director of the state Department of Housing and Community Development. The agency determines which Virginia projects will receive the state's allocation of HUD money.

Shelton said Lexington's application was well-written and addressed the problem of a tight housing market in the city's low-income communities.

"There's not much that would jeopardize this project," said Shelton. "It's virtually certain."

The Rev. J.B. Harris, president of the local NAACP, said he could not comment on the grant until he knew more about it. "At least the effort on the part of the city, we can safely applaud that," Harris said.