Home sweet home

January 04, 2007; As originally appeared in The Advocate by Doug Dalena

STAMFORD - Denise Matthews got her green card in 2005 and her own home in 2006.

The Jamaican immigrant and her Brooklyn, N.Y.,-born husband, Ronald, are among 15 families that bought affordable homes built in the final stage of Southwood Square, the mixed-income development that replaced the Stamford Housing Authority's troubled Southfield Village public housing complex off Selleck Street.

Matthews is a certified nursing assistant and home health aide, nanny and housecleaner who got her U.S. work visa five years ago and has worked several part-time jobs to make ends meet. She has spent the past two weeks moving from a market-rate rental apartment in Southwood Square to a three-bedroom, two-and-half-bath condominium on Pressprich Street, just outside the development's gates.

It didn't take her long to get things set up. Glassware is arranged in a wooden china cabinet, a Jamaican flag sprouts from a vase in the bedroom, and the ground-floor powder room has a wooden plaque quoting Hebrews 11:1: "Faith is being sure of what you have and certain of what you do not see."

"In another week, it will be perfect," she said.

The condo has a small yard and a one-car garage. Owners have access to Southwood Square's outdoor pool and fitness center.

Denise Matthews, who grew up in a suburban neighborhood in Jamaica, is about to start a full-time job as a patient care technician at Norwalk Hospital, a change she said will allow her to "pay my bills and relax a little."

After raising two sons - including a high-school valedictorian - battling breast cancer, forgoing spending and credit card purchases for months to keep her credit rating and mortgage eligibility intact, and dealing with the recent death of her brother, she's ready to relax.

Ronald Matthews, a food service supervisor at a New York psychiatric institute and a weekend security guard at UBS, said he is the quiet half of the couple and said Denise provided most of the drive to buy a home after they started renting at Southwood Square in November 2005.

"It makes her happy, so it's good for me," he said. "She's lighted up like a Christmas tree, so I'm happy."

The couple bought the condo using loans and grants from federal, state and city sources, including a $185,000 first mortgage from Citibank guaranteed by the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority at 5.38 percent annual interest, a second 20-year mortgage for $49,800 at 3 percent from the Housing Development Fund's Smartmove program, and a forgivable loan for $14,000 from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Citibank also provided a $3,000 grant toward closing costs, which were $3,400. They made a $2,490 down payment - 1 percent of the $249,000 purchase price.

Their monthly payments, including common charges, principal, interest, taxes and insurance, are about $1,800 - less than $100 more than their rent.

The home ownership units were part of the redevelopment program for Southwood Square, which was funded by the federal Hope VI program for rehabilitating public housing by replacing it with mixed-income developments, as well as grants and loans from the city, state and private sources.

The housing authority's home ownership programs - which vary based on the project and funding sources - differ from the city's.

The down payment required for city ownership programs varies depending on a buyer's savings, while the Southwood Square program requires a 1 percent down payment. The city program, which requires developers to set aside some units - generally 10 percent - in every development for low- and moderate-income buyers, varies the purchase price based on buyers' income. The Southwood Square program set the same sale price for every home, then varied the amount of the subsidy.

The funding for another Hope VI project, the reconstruction of the Fairfield Court housing complex, will provide $45,000 second mortgages that 76 public housing tenants can combine with other funding sources to purchase homes.

Some Southwood Square buyers, especially those in the lower income levels, got additional help, including $90,000 forgivable loans from the state Department of Economic and Community Development, $25,000 HUD loans from the federal Homeward Bound program, and $30,000 in no-interest loans from the city's HOME revolving mortgage fund and a similar HDF fund called Adopt-a-House.

In all, the Southwood Square buyers had access to seven sources of funding, said Tami Strauss of the Housing Development Fund, which administered the program for the housing authority. It counseled the buyers on home ownership, screened applicants for eligibility based on income and credit rating, and put together the complex financing for each buyer.

Of the 80 applicants, 43 were deemed eligible, 14 were selected based on preferences given for residents of Southwood Square and other publicly subsidized housing, and two families had entered a lottery for the remaining units. The buyers ranged in household income from 28 percent of the area median - $32,564 for a family of four - to 92 percent -$107,000 - and in household, size from one person to four.

The condominiums at Southwood Square were sold to buyers in three income tiers, with five going to buyers who make 28 percent to 45 percent of the area median income, five to buyers who earn 45 percent to 60 percent, and five who earn 60 percent to 100 percent.

Earning $105,000 between them - 55 percent of the median income for a family of three - Ronald and Denise Matthews were in the middle income tier, Strauss said. Denise has a grown son who lives in Bridgeport and a 16-year-old who counts toward household size because he is her dependent, though he goes to school full time in Jamaica.

When they were looking for a place to live in Stamford in 2005, to give her a break from a commute from Brooklyn, the couple found Southwood Square almost by accident. Driving by Selleck Street, Denise said the townhouse-style apartments reminded her of her home in Jamaica.

"We didn't know until we got in that it was a project," Denise Matthews said. "It was so nice that I didn't have any idea. I'm like, 'Wow, I want to live here."

The property manager said condominiums would be built, but it slipped her mind until she saw them going up. When she asked about them again, the property manager put her in touch with the fund.

Once she gets the rest of the place arranged, Denise Matthews has two short-term goals. She wants to have a minister bless the house, then wants to get started on her passion - cooking for and entertaining family and friends.

And she's ready to work on her long-term goal: applying for U.S. citizenship.

Buying a home of her own keeps her focused.

"It makes you want to wake up in the morning," she said, "and go to work."