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After 12 years, Niles housing agency calling it quits

By JAN GRIFFEY / Niles Daily Star
Friday, September 14, 2007 10:59 AM EDT

NILES - After almost 12 years of work to provide affordable housing for low- to moderate-income homebuyers, the Greater Niles Community Development Corp. is closing its doors.

The agency opened in 1996 and since that time has assisted more than 50 families in the purchase of quality housing. However, hard economic times in Michigan and a particularly battered housing market, has left the agency unable to find qualified buyers and qualified houses.

"I think one need only to drive down the Fifth Street corridor to see the service we have provided," said Tim Batton, the agency's executive director. "We removed a lot of blight and replaced it with new and rehabilitated housing."

The Community Development Corp. received about 80 percent of its funding from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. It had an operations budget of about $100,000 a year.

"If you include project money, our budget was closer to $250,000 a year," Batton said.

He said the decision to close the agency came about with "the realization that the housing market is weak and the state budget is tight and we are dependent on those two factors to remain solvent."

The agency currently has a $250,000 grant from the state housing authority, but has not been able to find an eligible buyer or an eligible house for more than a year.

"For the most part, it's been the tightening of the mortgage industry," Batton said. "Rates go up, payments go up, and people can't afford the payment on the house. In addition, unemployment has been high and people in the income levels we serve are usually at-risk on their jobs and are reluctant to make a commitment to buy a house."

The agency also employs Catherine Marsh, who has worked as a housing specialist, he said.

"We are proud of what we've done and believe we've served our mission. I'm definitely sad that it is over," Batton said.

A Niles native, Batton said he does not know what's next for him, but does know it will be in Niles. "I'm a hometown boy," he said. He also said that he predicts such an agency will re-emerge when the state's economy picks back up.

The agency's last day is Sept. 28.

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