Not long ago, the Richmond Field Office advised the City of Roanoke that there was a home available at 719 Dale Avenue in the Southeast area of the City that was available for rehabilitation and re-sale for just $1 under HUD's Good Neighbor Initiative.

Before�

�and after.

The City of Roanoke jumped at the chance to buy the home. Even better, it used the home to start its own version of an Officer Next Door program.

"It is important that our employees live in the City," City Manger Darlene Burcham told The Roanoke Times, "and it's particularly helpful to have our public safety personnel visible in the community."

"I've always lived where I work," added Roanoke Police Chief Joe Gaskins. "I think we owe that to the community."

And that's exactly what HUD's Good Neighbor property on Dale Street has helped the City achieve. Renovated by the Blue Ridge Housing Development Corporation for around $70,000, the one-story, 1400 square-foot house built in 1900 is now home to a Roanoke police officer.

For now, the officer is renting the home, with a portion of each monthly payment put into an escrow account towards purchase. The only "condition" the officer must meet is that he must purchase the Dale Avenue or some other home within the city limits within the next three years.

"Homeownership is the best way to fight poverty, the best way to promote stability and the best way to further community," said Alvin Nash of the Blue Ridge Housing Development Corporation. "Thanks to the City's innovative use of HUD resources, today we are one step and one homebuyer closer to all three goals."

HUD's Dollar Home Initiative allows local governments to purchase qualified HUD-owned homes for $1 each to create housing for families in need and to benefit neighborhoods. HUD's Officer Next Door Program provides discounts on HUD homes to sworn law enforcement officers who want to buy homes and live in HUD-designated revitalization areas. More than 7,700 officers have bought homes from HUD under the program.