More Cops on the Block

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has expanded its "officer next door" program and will subsidize the purchase of an additional 1,000 FHA foreclosed homes to local police officers.HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo, accompanied by Vice President Al Gore, announced the expansion of the program at a White House press conference Friday morning. Under the program, foreclosed Federal Housing Administration homes are sold at half price to police officers in an effort to promote safety and to revitalize neighborhoods. "When police officers move into an area, criminals want to move out and families want to move in," Secretary Cuomo said. Mortgage Bankers Association president Marc Smith announced that 50 mortgage lenders will give police officers a half-point discount on closing costs or a one-eighth of a point discount on interest rates as an additional incentive. HUD started the "officer next door" program one year ago with the goal of getting 2,000 police officers to move into problem neighborhoods that have been earmarked for revitalization. "It is good for neighborhoods and for police officers and their families," said Irene Hughes, a patrol officer with the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department who became a first-time homebuyer under the program.