SAINT LOUIS, MO (KMOX) - The current housing market has priced many people out. Inflation and supply chain issues mean supplies to fix up homes are getting even more expensive. For neighborhoods like Dutchtown, which has been struggling with decaying rental properties and abandoned homes, it could reverse progress that's been made. But a number of neighborhood organizations and non-profits are working hard to make sure that doesn't happen.
Dallas Adams offered KMOX's Debbie Monterrey a tour of her shotgun house in South St. Louis. It was one of more than a dozen homes purchased by St. Joseph Housing Initiative. Director Maureen McEwen says they took an obsolete floor plan -- just three rooms -- and added a bedroom, laundry room addition on the back.
"It was a problem property in the neighborhood. Vacant properties are magnets for all types of bad things." says McEwen, who adds it's rewarding to see it called a home again.
SJHI specializes in taking vacant houses, renovating them, and selling them at affordable prices to first-time home buyers. For Dallas, "It feels like a divine blessing."
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