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- LETTERS, Page 8Resident Owners in Rockford
-
- I read your piece "Turning Public Housing Over to Resident
- Owners" (AMERICAN IDEAS, Dec. 12) and want to correct an
- important point. You say October 1988 marked "the first time in
- U.S. history that public-housing residents could become owners
- of their homes." I was executive director of the Rockford
- housing authority in Illinois from 1970 to 1977, and during that
- time Rockford had an innovative and successful housing program
- whereby renters could apply their rental fees toward the
- purchase of their homes. Tenants had to attend maintenance
- school; noncompliance could mean nonownership. These homes and
- their tenants often served as models for the whole community.
- On numerous occasions I was called to Washington to explain our
- successful program to federal housing officials.
-
- William F. Lewis Oceanside, Calif.
-