The city of Inglewood continues to move forward with assisting first time home buyers purchase their homes after winning placement through a lottery held in summer 2019. The city is expected to purchase a home from Zillow, during the Nov. 23 city council meeting for $531,300.
Related: Zillow takes a break from flipping houses
The lottery was administered by the Inglewood Housing Authority and City Manager Artie Fields personally requested the treasurer pull the names.
“Artie personally called and asked me since I am the longest serving member of the council,” said Wanda Brown during a city council meeting where she set the record straight that she had nothing to do with the persons being selected.
The lottery came under scrutiny when this author and the Daily Breeze questioned how a city employee was the #1 person selected.
“I have nothing to do with anything nefarious nor did I know it was a city employee until it was written about.
Our article ran the day the lottery was held, with Daily Breeze wrote their article five months later.
When the DB story hit, the city was closed for its annual two week closure. Brown claimed she received “many” phone calls after the story hit and once council meetings resumed, she spoke out about it which began her public feud with Mayor Butts.
The accompanying staff report is requesting $531,300 + closing costs, to purchase 800 Glenway Dr. #116, then resale to the first time homebuyer for $312,500.
The staff report didn’t go through its normal review channels as the document outright states the money is coming from the city’s reserves.
The city budget shows a revenue shortfall in the millions of dollars, the state audit shows the city is still waiting to be “reimbursed” millions of dollars, a fiscal emergency was declared not even three months ago, and the city rejected a tax measure that sought to shore up the city’s ability to preserve and maintain city services and public safety.
How do we have the money to continue paying for a first time homebuyers program, and most importantly, when exactly is the city going to be reimbursed for these costs?
We wonder if Zillow was running their “house flipping” scam in Inglewood?
