HDF announces new opportunities for public housing residents to become homeowners

Stamford Housing Authority Selects HDF Homeward Bound Program for Second Engagement to Identify & Assist 57 Qualified Buyers Among Fairfield Court Tenants

STAMFORD, Conn., Aug. 8, 2006- The Housing Development Fund’s (HDF) Homeward Bound program has already helped 116 families to move from public housing to private homeownership. The nonprofit bank, the largest funder of affordable housing and assistance to homebuyers in Connecticut, announced that it will now begin seeking, counseling and putting together financing for another 57 public housing tenants in Stamford, with more opportunities on the horizon in other communities in southwestern Connecticut.

This opportunity for homeownership comes under a new contract with the Housing Authority of the City of Stamford (HACS) to help manage and distribute the HUD Hope VI housing grant available to current residents of Fairfield Court rental public housing. The Hope VI grant is to be used to help residents become first time homebuyers of existing housing in Stamford. The Hope VI grants and other financing provided through HDF will help to close the affordability gap.

“Here at HDF we particularly like the Homeward Bound program as it allows us to demonstrate that public housing tenants can move successfully to homeownership, given the counseling, advocacy and financial assistance they may require,” said HDF Executive Director Joan Carty. “In addition, every family that moves on from public housing frees up a unit for another family on the waiting list – a double benefit to the community.”

HDF Homeownership Education Coordinator Melvina Peters is credited by her colleagues as the key to the success of the program. With a combination of humor, compassion and forthrightness, Peters connects with a diverse array of candidates for homeownership and helps them move through the process of purchasing and then maintaining a home.

“Melvina was an angel from heaven,” said Janet Davis, a college grad, a 19-year employee in the Contracts Division of Pitney Bowes in Stamford and the single mom of a 10-year-old son. “I had been getting some Section 8 rent subsidy, but my salary was going up to where I would no longer qualify, so I decided to try to buy.

“A friend had told me about HDF and I applied. Without Melvina and Housing Development Fund, I never would have known about two grants that were available, one from the Housing Authority of Stamford and one from the City of Stamford. Along with the three percent of the purchase price that I had saved, I was able to buy my beautiful, brand new two-bedroom condo at Westside Commons. HDF walked me through the whole process including the first mortgage available for these homes from CitiBank, which paid all the closing costs. Being able to own in Stamford near my job and my son’s school was a true blessing!”

The engagement to find potential homebuyers living in Fairfield Court and put together the financing that will help them to purchase houses or condos marks the second time that HDF has provided such contractual services for HACS. Under a first phase of the City’s Hope VI grant, HDF identified and counseled 200 households and placed 36 into homeownership. Under the current agreement, HDF will identify and counsel 150 households, 57 of which will become owners of the available units.

HDF has provided similar technical assistance to other municipalities including Greenwich, Norwalk and Danbury, helping their housing authorities to develop and administer affordable housing initiatives. The organization maintains a second office in Danbury and is also working with private developers of market rate housing with a percentage of below-market-rate units set aside.

About Housing Development Fund
Founded in 1989, the Housing Development Fund has expanded to serve all of southwestern Connecticut from its headquarters in Stamford and a Danbury office opened in 2004.

HDF offers a variety of homebuyer programs including its First Time Homebuyers Program which offers one-on-one homeownership counseling as well as down payment and closing cost assistance, its SmartMove low interest second mortgage program, and CHFA (Connecticut Housing Finance Authority) approved Homebuyer Education Classes. Along with HDF’s requirement that its financing be linked only to traditional, fixed-rate mortgage products, its programs have led to unprecedented stability in its portfolio.

HDF is a HUD-certified lender and Housing Counseling agency that facilitates development of affordable housing. The unique nonprofit bank manages public/private partnerships to lend funds for this purpose. Through its approach that pools risk for lenders, HDF is a leader in providing first mortgages for the development of multi-family units.

HDF provides low-interest, flexible financing and technical assistance to developers and municipalities. HDF has the largest public/private pool of first mortgage financing for affordable housing in Connecticut – both homeownership and rental - $38 million.