Lancaster cleans up foreclosed properties
Redevelopment Project Coordinator Lisa Russo photographs the interior of a home that the city of Lancaster has purchased in the Piute neighborhood. Russo is responsible for planning and contracting the improvements to each house purchased as part of the citys Neighborhood Preservation Home Ownership Program. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Elizabeth Brubaker, Lancaster’s director of housing and neighborhood revitalization, inspects a vacant home that the city has purchased. In an effort to strengthen neighborhoods hit by foreclosure, the city is buying and fixing up vacant homes. The initiative is reportedly getting a warm reception from residents. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Maudean Simon, 33, lives across the street from a vacant home that the city has purchased in the Piute neighborhood. Simon and her family have rented on this street for six months but have expressed interest in buying if the house across the street is rehabilitated and put up for sale. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
This is one of 41 homes the Lancaster Redevelopment Agency has purchased or will purchase through a $4.1-million city initiative. After making improvements to the homes, they will be sold to low- and moderate-income earners. Im not usually for government intervention in things. But this is a good thing, a local business leader says. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
