Pompano Beach Planned on Giving Away a House; Then City Commissioners Found Out

It looks like the folks in Pompano Beach are being ersatzgivers over their house giveaway.

The city bought an $83,000 house that had gone into foreclosure in the Leisureville retirement community that it planned to hold a drawing for to give away to an income- and age-qualified Pompano Beach resident.

That was the plan, until City Manager Dennis Beach heard about it.

Now the Sun-Sentinel is reporting Beach put the drawing on hold to get more "input and evaluation."

The purpose of the drawing was to create interest in the Neighborhood Stabilization Program -- an initiative by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to get people into refurbished homes.

Pompano Beach residents over age 55, and with a two-person family maximum income of $76,080, could qualify for the drawing.

Now the City Commission is involved.

City commissioners were sending emails to the city manager about the house giveaway, one question including whether the commission needed to give approval for the giveaway, according to the Sentinel.

Now the gifting of the house is on indefinite hold.

Beach has requested housing department staff gather information to present to the City Commission before deciding whether the drawing can move forward, the Sentinel says.

The drawing was supposed to take place on July 26 and would have included the first 75 qualified applicants.