Affordable Housing Is In High Demand in Stamford, CT

May 2, 2006; As originally appeared in Stamford Business Outlook

By JOAN CARTY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Housing Development Fund, Stamford, CT

Affordable housing is in high demand in Stamford, CT. As the median price of a single- family home approaches $650,000 (based on 2005 data), low- and moderate-income first-time home buyers are being priced out of the city’s residential market.

Among those who cannot afford to live in Stamford include the city’s teachers, nurses, police officers, firefighters and postal workers.

The availability of affordable housing in Stamford brings about increased community stability and substantial social benefits for families and the city. The National Association of Realtors cites that stable housing brings increased education levels, increased civic participation including voting and volunteerism, better health and increased ability to pay for healthcare, and reduced crime and domestic violence rates.

Moreover, aside from the social benefits of homeownership, the availability of affordable housing in Stamford is important to city’s economy especially regarding the ability of employers, both private and public, to attract and retain workers.

Our agency, the Housing Development Fund, strives to aid two sides of the issue. Our multi-family lending products provide financial assistance towards the development and preservation of much-needed affordable housing supply; and our First Time Homebuyers Program fills the affordability gap between household incomes and home prices in order to make homeownership a reality.

Among our various First Time Homebuyers programs and products, HDF facilitates first-time homebuyer loans for a broad array of municipal and private partners. HDF works with several private developers in Stamford to provide prospective purchasers for Below Market Rate (BMR) units included among market rate developments. These include BMR units at Southwood Square, Maple Tree and Mill River House, among others.

To date, the Housing Development Fund has assessed the mortgage readiness of nearly 1,700 Stamford households and provided further one-on-one homeownership counseling to nearly 1,200 Stamford households. We have lent $4.2 million to 182 households, allowing them to purchase in Stamford. The majority of our loans have been towards the purchase of condominiums and cooperatives. Single-family homes represent 14 percent of purchases and multi-family homes represent the remaining 2 percent of the purchases.

Among 182 first-time home- buyers in Stamford, the average household earns an income at 50 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI). Our first-time homebuyer clients who purchased in Stamford hail from nearly 140 employers throughout southwestern Connecticut, including the City of Stamford (including teachers, firefighters and police officers), Stamford Hospital (including nurses, social workers and registrars), US Post Office, Pitney Bowes, GE Capital and Stamford Advocate, among many others.

HDF’s success in keeping pace in Stamford is due, in large part, to our work with private developers who have included affordable units in market-rate developments. It is worthwhile to note that this example of public/private partnerships has yielded such positive and life-changing results in an environment of escalating home prices.