Nov 1, 2008 12:00 am US/Eastern
Mt. Holly Gardens Residents Could Lose Their Homes
MT. HOLLY, N.J. (CBS 3) ―
The sound of kids playing outside has slowly been replaced by noise of bulldozers in the Mt. Holly Gardens Neighborhood. Five years ago the township decided the area is blighted, and in need of redevelopment.
"No Trespassing" signs and razed properties have depressed home values and the way N.J. Laws are written; low income homeowners have little protection.
"I love where I am, I say I chose it, but really I think God gave it to me" said Santos Cruz.
Cruz is a husband and father of six who works two jobs to pay for what he considers the American dream lives in Mt Holly Gardens.
"I'll be the last guy to leave maybe they'll have to pull me out, maybe I'll have to chain myself to the building," said Santos.
Mount Holly's City Council voted to allow a private developer to buy people out and build townhouses.
Now 80 homeowners remain out of 379.
Some have cracked walls and roofs due to neighboring homes being knocked down or bulldozed. Santos paid $50,000 dollars to buy his house in 1990. "I'm $50,000 in the hole they are offering me $49,000 18 years later!"
Carole Richardson broke down in tears during a press conference aimed at changing New Jersey laws to protect low income homeowners like her. She was forced into a trailer in Vincentown and says it is all she could afford.
At 71, Richardson didn't qualify even for a new low income mortgage.
Under a 1972 law, the maximum a Gardens resident could be offered to move out is $84,000.
But it would cost $206,000 to buy a comparable home in the region.
"Displaced homeowners should receive replacement value for their property- enough to buy a comparable replacement home in their own community," said Ronald Chen with New Jersey's Office of the Public Advocate. Chen hopes to persuade lawmakers to take on this important fight.
"Maybe it's too late for us, but there is another community this is going to happen to that's why I'm here." Santos said.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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