San Antonio university architecture school neighborhood improvement program initiative

Right:  City of San Antonio photo.  

In the vein of Sunday's post about self-help efforts, Stuart calls our attention to a program run by the University of Texas at San Antonio's architecture school, where Professor Sue Ann Pemberton has developed a program called "Students Together Achieving Revitalization," where students come together to repair "derelict residences," working with the city's Office of Historic Preservation and local contractors.

From the San Antonio Express-News article "UTSA students go beyond the surface to repair East Side homes":

Over the last five years, the program's more than 700 participants have helped restore about 77 houses in East Side historic districts such as Knob Hill, Tobin Hill, Government Hill and Dignowity Hill. Property owners, who have to apply through the city's Office of Historic preservation, don't just get a paint job, but valuable repairs to porches, windows and roofing...

Note that programs like these are good ways to ameliorate the higher costs that be involved in maintaining historic properties, costs that are harder to bear for low income households.