The N&R reports the City of Greensboro gets a ‘pittance’ in Project Homestead’s bankruptcy settlement.
For those unfamiliar, Project Homestead was a nonprofit builder of affordable housing that the city propped up with a reported $18 million. An audit revealed that Project Homestead and its founder, the Rev. Michael King, squandered millions of dollars. King decided that the public scrutiny was too much to deal with, so he offed himself in 2003.
Note that assistant city manager for economic development Andy Scott tries to put the situation in the best possible light:
“In the big picture, if you look back over it, most of the projects we worked on with Project Homestead, you and I can go out and touch them and they provide the benefit and are still owned by first-time homebuyers,” Scott said.
In the end, he said, the bankruptcy did not hurt the community.
“While there was some damage there, it wasn’t catastrophic,” Scott said.
Not aside from the fact that government involvement in the housing industry is what got into the mess we’re in right now.
