Christopher Evers has searched in vain the past few years to buy a home for his wife, Evelyn, and soon to be seven children.
The biggest obstacle, Evers said, was scraping enough money together for a down payment on his one income.
But the couple could soon find themselves in a home of their own thanks to being one of the first in line to benefit from a down payment assistance program from Wells Fargo Bank.
The bank, along with the Primavera Foundation and NeighborhoodWorks America, will launch, its NeighborhoodLIFT program with a two-day event Sept. 5 and 6 at the Tucson Convention Center.
Tucson will become the 28th city to benefit from the program that has already helped 7,200 families transition from renting to home ownership.
“We pick cities we think are hit the hardest by the mortgage crisis so we can make a positive impact on the community,” said Wells Fargo area president, John Gibson.
In Tucson, $4.5 million will be available for qualified families to receive up to $15,000 in down payment assistance to purchase a home in Tucson or South Tucson, Gibson said.
The bank will also pitch in an additional $500,000 for local nonprofits’ neighborhood assistance programs.
Gibson estimated about 250 families would benefit from the program in Tucson.
To qualify, families can earn up to 120 percent of the Tucson median family income, which is $68,400 for a family of four, and demonstrate a stable work history over the past two years.
Peggy Hutchison, Primavera Foundation CEO, said the program goes beyond the typical down payment assistance programs.
“Most programs only go to people with 80 percent of area median income,” said Hutchison, whose group will identify prospective families for the program.
“A lot of working families, who might not have considered home ownership because they’re lacking that gap of closing costs and a down payment,” can now close that gap.
In addition to the salary guidelines, Hutchison said families would have to find a home loan that meets their budget to minimize foreclosures.
Hutchison encourages anyone who thinks they might qualify for the program to contact Primavera at primavera.org/lift to learn more or to make an appointment with a housing counselor.
The down payment program can be combined with existing homeowner assistance plans the city offers and is another way the city can strengthen its neighborhoods, said Mayor Jonathan Rothschild.
“It’s an opportunity to take families on the cusp of homeownership and get them into a neighborhood where they meet their neighbors, build up the community and build up the schools,” said Rothschild, who announced the program during a Monday morning press conference at City Hall.
“That’s what we’re seeing around the country. And that’s what communities that are coming out of this great recession are doing.”
