St. Louis, Missouri alderman John Collins-Muhammad has proposed a new housing program that would allow interested builders and develops to purchase a vacant property for $1.
St. Louis has about 11,000 vacant buildings, of which 10,000 are located in the North St. Louis City region. About 2,000 of these buildings are in Collins-Muhammad’s 21st Ward.
Under the terms of the proposed Dollar Housing Program, the city would lease the vacant properties that are in the city’s land bank to interested developers. “If they rehab and redevelop these homes and buildings within 18 months, then the city will sign them over the official deed for the property for $1,” Collins-Muhammad explained. “We keep seeing families that are trickling out of St. Louis and we want to keep them here, but we have to give them the type of incentives to stay here.”
Collins-Muhammad intends to introduce the program as a bill in the Board of Aldermen meeting this Friday. He has placed an emergency clause on the bill, meaning that if the mayor signs off on the program, it will immediately begin.
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