Fiscal Note
$200,000 in Federal HOME funds is available in the Housing Development Fund. Expenses will not be counted toward the State expenditure control limits.
Title
Approving $200,000 in Federal HOME funds to provide additional down payment assistance to qualified homebuyers as part of the American Dream Down payment program
Body
BACKGROUND:
The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development initiated a funding stream in 2004 through the Federal HOME program for larger local jurisdictions to provide down payment assistance to eligible homebuyers (80% of the area median income and below). The Council approved local guidelines for the program in 2005 and the CD Office began making these loans in July 2005. During the first twenty-six months, under the policy guidance of the CDBG Commission, the Office has committed over $544,000 to serve 70 households. The CD Office provided an annual report on the program to the Common Council during July 2006, and again as part of the Comprehensive Annual Performance and Evaluation Report for 2005 and for 2006.
PROJECT:
The CD Office has worked with realtors, lenders, the CED Unit, community-based groups and associations to market the program, and leverage other resources for families. The Office expects to commit all of the remaining HOME ADDI funds by the end of December, and would be compelled to shut down the program until HUD made available new funds in the coming calendar year. In addition, the CD Office anticipates that the level of funding through the set-aide appears insufficient to meet the predicted demand and level of activity, based on the successful start of the ADDI program over the previous 26 months. At this point in the 2007 program year, the CD Office concludes that there are sufficient funds within the Housing Development Fund to provide an additional level of support to the ADDI program and meet the estimated level of demand for these funds until the 2008 allocation is authorized.
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