South of Sunnyside

Last week, discussion started about the implications of the 2008-2009 American Human Development Report, which ranks California’s 20th congressional district as dead last out of 436 districts nationwide, with regards to the well-being of its residents.

On Sunday, Bill McEwen at the Bee claimed that poverty, not business or agriculture, is the business of the Valley, recalling the 2005 Brookings Institute report that highlighted the Valley as having the highest concentration of poverty in the country.

But for once, we’re not last. Not even close, which means we’ll lose out on the governator’s Community Stabilization Home Loan Program. According to the official press release:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the launch of the Community Stabilization Home Loan Program, a special program designed to help first-time homebuyers purchase homes in communities hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis.  Under the program, first-time homebuyers will be eligible for below-market interest rate loans to purchase foreclosed homes in ZIP codes with some of the state’s highest foreclosure rates.

So far, so good. With all the abandoned properties around, surely we’ll get some help here in the 937XX. But no:

Run by the California Housing Finance Agency, a state agency that finances safe, affordable loans for first-time homebuyers, the program will be available in ZIP codes identified as the most impacted by foreclosures in California including Riverside, Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced counties. Areas in Los Angeles, Contra Costa and Alameda counties are also included.  Several lenders have agreed to partner in the program and offer sales prices on bank-owned properties at least 12 percent below estimated value in the identified ZIP codes.

I guess it’s good that we won’t be included?

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