Sheryl-Ann Peters’ occupation was never televised.
But unlike Occupy Wall Street protesters — who recently seized a vacant East New York home and moved in a homeless family — her housing takeover was entirely legal.
Peters became a first-time homeowner last month thanks to an affordable-housing program for neighborhoods hardest hit by the housing crisis.
The city bought the vacant, foreclosed, three-bedroom in St. Albans, Queens in August 2010 for $266,833 under a federal housing program. It added $177,190 worth of renovations, bringing the total worth to $444,023.
Then it sold the house for only $300,000 to Peters, a school-bus driver originally from Trinidad and Tobago. She had applied to the affordable-housing program last year and closed the deal last month.
Now she and son Kai, 2, have a house with a big yard on Quencer Road to call their own. “The first thing I did was pray. Then I did a complete cleaning job,” she said.
Before mopping the floors and unpacking the boxes in her new home, Sheryl-Ann Peters got on her knees.
The program, overseen locally by the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development, aims to answer 94 more prayers.
About $59 million in city, state, federal and private money is being used to buy 95 vacant and foreclosed homes. — and sell them to income-eligible buyers. For example, a family of four can’t earn more than $98,000.
So far, three homes have been sold and 17 more are under contract.
Prospective homeowners recognized a good deal when they saw one.
“My front yard is huge and I have a nice driveway now,” said Betty Miller, 44, who paid just $250,000 for her 2,600-square-foot, four-bedroom home in Jamaica that she moved into this Thanksgiving.
“Now I don’t have to deal with a landlord — why should I make him rich?” said Miller, a school-safety officer who pays about as much in her mortgage, $1,100 as she was paying to rent in Canarsie.
Her dream house is finally sinking in.
“When I got the key, I knew this was real. There was no turning back,” Miller said.
That’s a powerful feeling, said Salvatore D’Avola, executive director of Neighborhood Restore, the nonprofit operating the nationwide program for the city.
“Home ownership is a way for people to control their own destiny and have a stake in their community,” he said.
More information about the program may be found here: www.neighborhoodrestore.com/homeowner.html