[Vision2020] $10, 000 Down Payment Assistance Available Via American Dream Down Payment Initiative

[Andreas Schou]

As someone who works regularly with IHFA and Section 8, I have three
observations:

(1) This program is functionally worthless to most Section 8
recipients in Moscow. The amount of money involved in becoming a
homeowner is beyond the capacity of most Section 8 recipients.
However, most regional Section 8 recipients don't live in Moscow: they
live in outlying rural areas. Housing prices start to look much more
affordable at (for instance) $72,000, rather than $150,000.

(2) This homeownership money acts as a "force multiplier" when
combined with other pots of funding for Section 8 recipients and
low-income homeowners. Weatherization funds and IHFA's own Section 8
Self-Reliance program, which diverts Section 8 recipients' rental
costs into an escrow account for downpayments, can easily double that.

(3) IHFA, and -- indeed -- all regional housing providers are
desperate to move people off the Section 8 rolls. Anything that can
move people up the list is being tried. The program is desperately
underfunded. Region II currently has 611 families enrolled in Section
8. Another 600 are on the waiting list, including some of my clients
at Sojourners'.  The waiting list is currently more than 24 months
long.

Taking these into account, I can safely say that IHFA is doing
everything it can to rememdy a truly dire situation. But until the
federal government intervenes to increase Section 8 funding, this
problem will continue.

-- ACS