Holding the keys to her new three-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath house up in the air, Maria Villeda beamed and said: "My house. New house. Very happy."
Deputy Mayor Paul Williams presented those keys to the first St. Paul resident to buy a home under the $7 billion federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).
"We're just so honored you would choose to live in one of our homes," Williams said.
Villeda, a divorced mother and El Salvadoran refugee, came to the United States in 1993 after her parents were killed. She was granted asylum and, eventually, brought her six children.
In 2000, she bought a house on W. Maryland Avenue, but it was recently condemned for road expansion. Because of tightened mortgage restrictions, her $21,000 salary from a hospital laundry service no longer qualified her for a conventional mortgage.
In came NSP, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program aiming to help neighborhoods slammed by foreclosures. Under the program, cities can buy homes, rehabilitate them and then help residents finance them. The goal is to bring stability to neighborhoods with rehabilitated owner-occupied housing and quality rentals.
Villeda will have a $700 monthly payment on the $148,000 North End home, just west of Interstate 35E. She'll also have plenty of room to plant her beloved rose bushes. With her son Douglas Villeda interpreting from Spanish, Villeda said she loves to garden.
She planned to begin moving immediately into her new house, which is only a block from her old house. "It's a good area, close to the stores and the park is right in front of you," she said through her son. Villeda said she is especially fond of the open floor plan in the 1,500-square-foot home.
