Neighborhood Housing

On Wednesday, workers tacked down the forest-green carpeting. By Friday, Rosene Fossett would cart some belongings across the newly built front porch. This week, she'll own the red brick rowhouse and forever leave behind a faulty furnace, leaking plumbing and her landlord.In recent weeks, the landlord in her former neighborhood had become more attentive. But too late. Ms. Fossett had just bought her first house.Now, surveying freshly painted walls and her choice of cabinets in the rowhouse in Coppin Heights, the former tenant looked back to the day she wandered into the local branch of Neighborhood Housing Services of Baltimore Inc. and found a bit of hope.

I have been a member of the board of a mental health organization that for many years has provided neighborhood housing for people who suffer from mental illness. Many people with mental illness live and work in their communities. Only people who are in crisis or are a danger to themselves or others remain in a psychiatric inpatient setting. Therefore, since transitional neighborhood placements far exceed inpatient care, one can conclude based on the success of these residential facilities, they are well supervised and safe.

1,000th home is sold in Owings Mills New TownOwings Mills New Town, the first and largest planned community in Baltimore County, has recorded its 1,000th home sale. Built by Thomas Builders, the 1,000th home is located in the Persimmon Park community.Founded in late 1990, Owings Mills New Town includes single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums and rental apartments. According to Legg Mason Realty Group, 239 homes were sold in New Town in 1995, an 18 percent increase over 1994. An additional 115 homes have been sold this year.

Kenneth A. Savage has been preaching for nearly a decade inside a double-wide rowhouse on East Lombard Street in Highlandtown. The pastor of Holy Truth Temple of Deliverance House of Praise says he's reached out to the corner boys who set up their drug shop on nearby narrow Mount Pleasant Avenue and welcomed the homeless to help them find housing. Kevin L. Bernhard has been working for years to improve his neighborhood, too. The president of the Highlandtown Community Association has canvassed door-to-door with police to inform residents about crime problems and helped to clean up litter.

Baltimore County police identify man fatally struck by car 3 Baltimore County police have identified a pedestrian who was killed early Monday when a car struck him on Eastern Avenue near North Point Boulevard. Paul Andrew Thompson, 63, of the 7100 block of Gough St., near the city-county line, was walking east about 3:20 a.m. when he was struck, police said. Thompson was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver, William Ramsey, 31, was not charged because police determined that pedestrian error caused the accident.

To boost homeownership in a flagging Baltimore County neighborhood, several financial institutions pledged more than $1.5 million yesterday to a housing program in Greater Hillendale.The commitments, which will provide low-interest financing and closing-cost assistance to homebuyers, were announced at the official opening of the Taylor Avenue office of Neighborhood Housing Services, a nonprofit organization that counsels potential buyers.Neighborhood Housing Services, which has been involved since in Baltimore City neighborhoods, has been working with 72 potential buyers in Greater Hillendale since June.

Wilbert Bevans wasn't flashy or loud or a rabble-rouser. He didn't lead community marches or petition drives. But he was considered a rock in Northeast Baltimore, someone who knew how to get things done for his neighborhood and someone who could be counted on to support area activities.Mr. Bevans, 74, who died Tuesday of lung failure at Union Memorial Hospital, lived in Govans for more than 40 years and volunteered for programs such as the old Govans Neighborhood Housing Services for nearly the entire time.

Today's low interest rates are scant consolation to would-be homeowners who simply do not have enough cash to pay the closing costs. Those costs -- which include one full year's property taxes as well as points and transfer and recordation fees -- are particularly high in Baltimore City.Late last year the municipal government earmarked $2.5 million for a program in which purchasers of homes costing $60,000 to $100,000 can borrow up to $5,000 for closing costs. The Neighborhood Housing Services of Baltimore is now taking the idea further by offering similar closing-cost loans for less expensive homes.

I have been a member of the board of a mental health organization that for many years has provided neighborhood housing for people who suffer from mental illness. Many people with mental illness live and work in their communities. Only people who are in crisis or are a danger to themselves or others remain in a psychiatric inpatient setting. Therefore, since transitional neighborhood placements far exceed inpatient care, one can conclude based on the success of these residential facilities, they are well supervised and safe.

Thomas J. Guidera Jr., a second-generation real estate developer who was a champion of affordable housing, died at Mercy Medical Center Thursday of cancer. He was 71.During the late 1960s, Mr. Guidera became involved with charitable and civic causes focused on affordable housing."One of his great passions was that he believed that everyone, regardless of their incomes, ought to have the opportunity to live in a decent home," said Joanne Copes, who served with Mr. Guidera on the board of the Neighborhood Housing Association, which he co-founded.

Neighborhood: Brewers Hill Location: Southeast Baltimore Average sales price: $223,000 (January-June) Notable features: Ask people in the region to name a funky Baltimore neighborhood near the water, and they'll probably come up with Canton. Brewers Hill, its small next-door-neighbor to the east, gets a lot less attention. But it has neatly kept rowhouses, cool beer-brewing history and easy access to Canton hot spots without the bustling activity.

Baltimore County police identify man fatally struck by car 3 Baltimore County police have identified a pedestrian who was killed early Monday when a car struck him on Eastern Avenue near North Point Boulevard. Paul Andrew Thompson, 63, of the 7100 block of Gough St., near the city-county line, was walking east about 3:20 a.m. when he was struck, police said. Thompson was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver, William Ramsey, 31, was not charged because police determined that pedestrian error caused the accident.

In a sign that Reservoir Hill's comeback is gaining momentum, a developer plans to transform two long-vacant lots into about 170 market-rate condominiums with views of Druid Hill Park and estimated prices of up to $320,000. Baltimore developer CIMG LLC is planning an estimated $40 million project called Vistas on the Lake, two eight-story buildings in the 700 and 800 blocks of Druid Park Lake Drive across from the park. CIMG, selected Feb. 18 by the city's Department of Housing and Community Development in competitive bidding, will buy the land from the city for $1.2 million and expects to complete the project in about two years.

Surrounded by water on three sides, accessible from most of the city by a single road, Locust Point for years was a close-knit, working-class community where families toiled and lived in happy isolation from the rest of Baltimore. As the site of Fort McHenry, a disembarkation point for thousands of immigrants, the home of two marine terminals and several storied industrial plants, the community boasted a rich history but was often overlooked or ignored by those who lived outside its mostly narrow streets of brick-and-Formstone rowhomes.

There was a time when Michael Buccheri considered purchasing the white rowhouse four doors down from the one he was renting, but he dismissed the thought after learning that it had been sold. In the long run, he got the house anyway: He married the buyer. Catherine Buccheri, a 35-year-old product manager for a software development company, moved into the Butchers Hill house in January 1999. She and her future husband met the following November, started dating a month later, were engaged seven months after that and married a year ago. The three-story, 1870s rowhouse half a block from Patterson Park sits on Lombard Street, but the front door opens onto the adjacent alley, Madeira Street, as a result of a previous owner's renovations, said Michael Buccheri, 29, a computer network engineer.

From her kitchen window in East Baltimore, Darlene Glover watched the junkies line up in the alley from dawn until well past dark to buy crack cocaine.Her son watched, too. He was 9 years old.Desperate to buy a home in a safer neighborhood but lacking good credit, the 42-year-old advertising assistant became a victim of real estate flipping -- an increasingly common practice in which speculators buy shoddy homes and then rapidly sell them to naive purchasers for inflated prices.Glover paid $60,000 -- twice the amount she thought she was paying -- for a problem-ridden house at 819 N. Kenwood Ave. that a speculator had purchased six months earlier for $8,000, according to city records.

Do-it-yourself repairs 'Home Fair' at the JCCComprehensive Housing Assistance Inc. (CHAI) is holding a free "Home Fair" to teach homeowners to save money by learning to do their own repairs. The event is scheduled for 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 15 at the Jewish Community Center, 5700 Park Heights Ave.Participants can receive instructions on plumbing, painting, flooring, drywall, decorating, landscaping, exterior improvements, weatherization and basement waterproofing. Information also will be available on loans and financing, avoiding unscrupulous contractors, lead paint dangers, home safety and reverse mortgages.

An article in the Maryland section on June 9 incorrectly reported that an Irvington man purchased a home through a Neighborhood Housing Services program for low- and moderate-income families after he got married in November. The man, Michael Warden, bought the home in August 1991 -- more than a year before his wedding. He and his wife, Karen, have a combined income of about $60,000 a year.The Sun regrets the errors.WASHINGTON -- When Michael Warden got married in November, he had no credit history and thought he and his wife, Karen, would live in a rented apartment forever.

The Garwyn Oaks community in Northwest Baltimore is hoping that a housing resource center opening today will increase homeownership by 30 percent and protect the historic area from encroaching blight.The Garwyn Oaks Housing Resource Center will hold its grand opening from noon to 2 p.m. today.Now predominantly African-American, the neighborhood was built in the early 1900s and its large, wood-framed homes with front porches and half-acre yards gave the area a small-town look."All you [have]

Wilbert Bevans wasn't flashy or loud or a rabble-rouser. He didn't lead community marches or petition drives. But he was considered a rock in Northeast Baltimore, someone who knew how to get things done for his neighborhood and someone who could be counted on to support area activities.Mr. Bevans, 74, who died Tuesday of lung failure at Union Memorial Hospital, lived in Govans for more than 40 years and volunteered for programs such as the old Govans Neighborhood Housing Services for nearly the entire time.