The target area is Mongar Place,
an area of East Dallas sandwiched
between the Swiss Avenue historical
district and the proposed Fox and
Jacobs inner city redevelopment
project.
It consists of about 200 houses
in the early 20th century design
known as Prarie or Bungalow Style,
the largest intact area of that
architectural type in the country.
Most of the houses have been split
up into tenements.
Over 80 percent are owned by
absentee landlords.
70 percent are considered
substandard under city codes.
The area is zoned MW to
low rise apartments.
Historic preservationists in the
Dallas area became interested in
Mongar place about the same time
that nearby Swiss Avenue gained
landmark status and with a 500
dollar grant for an architectural
survey under their belts, set out to
discover what could be done with
neighboring Mongar.
Sure enough, some 91 percent of the
houses were determined fit for
restoration.
At this point, the Federal National
Mortgage Association, nicknamed
Fannie Mae, stepped in.
Fannie Mae is a former government
agency now private, whose purpose
is to ensure that there is enough
mortgage capital available in the
community to enable consumers to buy
homes.
Lakewood Bank and Trust, which had
already committed three million
dollars to East Dallas, got a two
million dollar financial assist from
Fannie Mae last September.
And the project is working,
encouraged by the Dallas experience
and a similar experiment in St.
Louis. Fannie Mae is taking the
affirmative urban lending plan to 10
cities in the next two months to see
if there is indeed a real chance to
reverse the deterioration and blight
in valuable areas like Mongar place.
Jan Lumley, The Texas News.