With Ribbon Cutting, Ashley Comes Home

by Lisa Reisman The New Haven independent

It was, as Mayor Justin Elicker put it, a true Elm City story. Lifelong New Havener Ashley Bailey returned to the house where her father and grandfather raised her as a baby — not as a renter, but as a first-time homeowner, and landlord as well.

“Now life has come full circle,” Bailey told a group of 60 well-wishers from her new front porch, festooned with banners and balloons, on 470 Howard Ave. Tuesday afternoon.

The occasion, a ribbon-cutting, celebrated the latest home restoration by the Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven (NHS), as well as Bailey’s steadfast determination to realize her dream of homeownership in the very neighborhood she was raised — thanks to state and federal programs that are at risk of shutting down under the Trump administration. 

Assemblage of well-wishers at 470 Howard Ave.

“This is an important milestone in our history,” said Jim Paley, executive director of NHS, referring to the NHS-led transformation of the 1882 Queen Anne-style property from abandoned vacant rooming house into owner-occupied three-family home.

Regarding the mission of neighborhood revitalization, he discussed the abundance of absentee owners that own multiple properties in the city. ​“Where do they concentrate their acquisitions but in the low-income minority communities,” he said. ​“We need homeownership to balance that out and create a sense of stability.” 

Paley registered concern over the future of federal programs like the HOME Investment Partnerships and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) that made the rehabilitation possible. ​“The president’s budget has zeroed them out, and the House budget is a small percentage of what the Senate budget is,” he said. 

He called on U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal to push for preservation of both programs, as well as NeighborWorks America, the largest funding source for NHS. ​“If NeighborWorks goes out of business, it would be a great hardship for us,” he said. 

Blumenthal then took the stage. ​“Homeownership is still the American dream, but it’s increasingly out of reach for the average American,” he said. The reason is not just the cost of the home itself, but also, he said, ​“the increase in our national debt that raises interest rates, the tariffs that increase construction costs like timber and aluminum, the discrimination that makes it more difficult for some people to own homes.” 

He pledged to fight for federal programs like HOME and CDBG. ​“They’re force multipliers, they are a leveraged investment, they are seed money, they are a downpayment that the federal government helps to make, and should continue to help to make, to ensure the American dream is realized by everyone, and not just a few,” he said.

Mayor Elicker praised NHS for its impact on the city. ​“If you look at some historically underserved neighborhoods in New Haven, it looks dramatically different because of the work you do,” he said. 

He encouraged attendees to take a tour of the house. ​“It is beautiful inside and out, and it will provide Ashley and her family not just with a wonderful and safe place to live, but a real sense of dignity and pride about where they live,” he said. In contrast to its formerly blighted state, ​“this property will improve the neighborhood as a whole, and will encourage neighbors to take care of their properties, and to have that longevity that will allow them to build relationships with each other.” 

Bridgette Russell, NHS HomeOwnership Center managing director, highlighted the discipline Bailey practiced to realize first-time homeownership, one that had her raising $94,250 in downpayment and closing costs from state and federal programs. 

“Ashley was ready and she was serious from the start, and those are the customers that you want,” Russell said. ​“She got her fiscal house in order, she got her credit excellent, her savings in line, and most of all she had extraordinary patience in the process.”

With that, she introduced Bailey, ​“the true star of this story,” she said.

Bailey thanked her father and stepmother for emphasizing the importance of homeownership, particularly, she said, ​“in the community you live in.”

“As a teenager, I would walk with my friends along the sidewalks and I would dream of owning a house,” she said. ​“Today that dream came true.”