Anaheim will use $15 million from Disney for first-time homebuyer program, affordable housing ...Middle East

Councilmembers want the city to prioritize giving future first-time homebuyers in Anaheim down payment assistance, saying officials spent years building affordable rental units and now should put greater focus on creating new homeowners.

With $15 million from Disney now in the city’s account, councilmembers have directed staff to set aside some money for building affordable units as proposed, but also to keep reserves available should a planned first-time homebuyer program that’s being established see high demand.

The $15 million is half of a total $30 million the company committed to the city to support affordable housing that came with the City Council’s approvals last year of the resort’s DisneylandForward expansion. The company will send the next $15 million in five years.

The city has three areas it will use the money: building more affordable housing units, providing loans to help first-time homebuyers and offering assistance for low-income families at risk of eviction.

Officials will use $5 million to provide down payment assistance to homebuyers through a “silent second mortgage.” The city will provide low-interest $50,000 loans that won’t need to be repaid until the home is sold or paid off.

Another $5 million will be dedicated to what’s being called the “Build More Homes Initiative,” and another million will be for eviction-prevention assistance.

City staffers had proposed that a greater portion of the funding go toward the construction initiative, but the City Council at a May 29 meeting directed that $4.5 million instead be set aside as reserves so the council could decide down the line how to use it, indicating that more for homebuyers was a priority.

City leaders stressed the importance of helping homebuyers with the money, as it keeps people invested in the community and building equity with homeownership provides life-changing financial benefits.

Some council members worried that the down payment assistance, as planned, might not be enough with today’s home prices to have a substantial effect.

“I don’t know if $50,000 is going to get you where you want for that loan,” Councilmember Ryan Balius said. “I think it has to be more.”

Councilmember Natalie Rubalcava pointed to recent data that says buying a home in Orange County now requires $373,000 a year in household income. Rubalcava noted she was a beneficiary of an Anaheim down payment assistance program in the late 1990s when she got $30,000 to buy her first home, which at the time cost $250,000.

Grace Ruiz-Stepter, director of the city’s housing and community development department, said the $50,000 figure was developed by working with local realtors who believed that would be a meaningful amount to have an effect.

If there’s enough demand for down payment assistance, the council could allocate more money to it.

Councilmember Natalie Meeks argued that providing homebuyer assistance would create a bigger change in people’s lives. She asked for a report back later to see if the $50,000 is enough in today’s housing market and how popular the program is once it’s established.

“Although you’ve heard from the realtors, ‘it makes an impact,’” Meeks said there is a difference between making a difference and being “life-changing, as pulling them out of poverty. I think those are two different answers, potentially.”

Related Articles

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Anaheim will use $15 million from Disney for first-time homebuyer program, affordable housing )

Also on site :

• Anger as US blocks Gaza ceasefire resolution at UN Security Council
• Woman in poison mushroom killings trial says she was trying to fix "bland" meal
• Trump revives travel ban, barring entry from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan, Yemen and 7 other countries