New Hope housing program boosts property values while helping with fire training

A west metro city has tripled the value of several properties through one of its housing programs that also created an opportunity for brand-new homes to be built in the nearly fully developed city.

Over the last eight years, New Hope’s Scattered Site Housing Program has transformed 25 properties.

In most cases, the city purchases a distressed property, demolishes the home and then prepares the lot to be sold to a builder. Some of the homes have been refurbished, and those are sold on the open market with no income restrictions. The city has worked with Habitat for Humanity on some of the projects as well. 

City officials say the majority of homes in New Hope are considered affordable housing. Another goal with this program is to create more options for families to settle and create roots in the community.

“It instills confidence in the neighborhood, too,” said Jeff Alger, New Hope’s community development specialist. “We’ve heard from residents who maybe were hesitant to committing to stay because of an issue with the house on their block.”

“They [also] see a brand new house, [the] city investing in the property — that gives them confidence to turn around and make improvements to their property and be here for the long term,” Alger added.

Alger said that the city is not making money on these transformations up front. He explained this is a long-term investment that’s expected to be worth it because of improved property tax values.

Before this program, the 25 properties had a combined total property tax value of $3.3 million. Alger said that value is now around $9 million. 

“It’s very rewarding personally to be able to see these projects through from beginning to end and hear all the positive feedback from neighbors and residents in the city,” he added.

One of those neighbors is Roberta Etherington, who lives next door to one of the newest builds under construction.

“I think New Hope takes good care of us,” Etherington said.

She and her family have called New Hope home for more than 50 years. With no plans to move, Etherington was happy to hear who’s moving next door.

“I know them,” Etherington said with a smile. “After all this time about worrying about who’s moving in there, I found out last week they’re a young couple from church,” she added with a celebratory cheer.

Some homes that are purchased through this program were foreclosed upon, while others were destroyed by fires. When approached by the city about it, homeowners don’t have to sell.

This program is more than just improving property taxes for the city — it’s also helped more than 150 firefighters with hands-on training.

“These training opportunities provided us with a chance to improve our skills in ladder operations, ventilation, search and rescue, increased our fire ground communication, and work on our hose line management,” Sean Watson, assistant fire chief for the West Metro Fire Rescue, wrote in a statement.

“These are topics we routinely cover, however, conducting them within realistic structures adds a whole new level,” Assistant Chief Watson added.

More than 1,000 training hours have been done at the properties from several departments including Golden Valley, Maple Grove, Plymouth, Brooklyn Center and Robbinsdale.

More information on the program, including contact information for those interested in buying or selling can be found here.