WPCNR MR. & MRS. & MS. WHITE PLAINS VIEWS. July 21, 2005: John Carlson the former Bank of Scotland money man running for Common Council has some reservations about the city providing down payments to citizens it considers deserving, a policy written about in last Sunday's Gannett paper. Mr. Carlson had originally written the letter to The Journal News, which refused to publish it, giving him the reason that Mr. Carlson was a candidate for office. He has asked The CitizeNetReporter to bring his letter the public since the Journal News policy he is told prevents publishing letters from candidates. Ever the faithful facilitator of diligent discussion of issues, WPCNR obliges:
To the Editor(Journal News):
Susan Elan's article "White Plains proposes changes to affordable housing program" seems to paint the City's program as a "giveaway" and leaves a lot of unanswered questions. The article said that the City provided a "down payment loan at 2%".
To many of our neighbors who saved for the down payment on their own home, this 2% loan doesn't seem fair. Some feel that the City is giving away money. For the risks assumed by the City, what is the best we can hope for? Just the borrower repaying the loan and paying a scant 2% interest rate?
The City and the taxpayers appear to be taking all or most of the risk. This is unreasonable. We're not seeing any upside if the owner is allowed to keep the profit on the sale while we could suffer a loss if the owner defaulted. Furthermore, if the buyer provides only a minimal down-payment (or none at all) our downside risk would be particularly onerous.
The solution may be something called "Warrants". This would give the City the right to share in ownership. Then owner and the City would both be able to "share in the upside".
Also, monies gained by the City's use of warrants could be used to create a "self funding" program for assisting those who can't afford to purchase housing.
If elected to Common Council I would work toward making the program "fair for all" and "self funding".
Sincerely,
John Carlson
