DUBUQUE, Iowa — Dubuque will spend $1.5 million over seven years to buy and rehab housing in some of the community’s poorest neighborhoods.
The Telegraph Herald reports that City Council approved an agreement Monday with True North Community Development Corp. to work on up to 50 residential properties in the city’s low-income neighborhoods, such as the North End.
The rehabbed homes will be sold to those making 80 percent or less of the area’s median income, which would be no more than $53,100 for a family of four. The city will also provide home buyers with up to a $25,000, no-interest loan.
Homeowners would be required to keep the property a single-family home for 21 years.
Council Member Jake Rios cast the only dissenting vote. He says he’s worried about gentrification and displacing low-income residents.
