Program helps urban Navajos buy homes
73 views
Skip to first unread message
Yvonne Yazzie
Mar 29, 2007, 6:29:07 PM3/29/07
to YAZZIENET posts
http://navajotimes.com/news/032207-homes.php
Program helps urban Navajos buy homes
By Cindy Yurth
Navajo Times
[Times photo - Cindy Yurth]
Todd Francis is helping his company, Neighborhood Housing Services of Phoenix, partner with the Navajo Housing Authority to secure down-payment assistance for urban Diné in the Phoenix area. Francis said many urban Natives are reluctant to buy homes simply because they are unfamiliar with the process, but nonprofit mortgage and development companies like NHS educate clients and walk them through it.
Phoenix, Ariz., Mar. 22, 2007
As an accountant, Todd Francis knew the benefits of home ownership. But as a Navajo, he was reluctant to take the plunge.
"It was actually pretty scary," said the Chinle native, who is Tábaahá (Edge Water Clan), born for Kin Yaa'áanii (Towering House Clan). "It was all new to me. In my whole extended family, I'm only the third homeowner."
But, boy, is Francis glad he bought a house. In south Phoenix, where he lives, lots that sold for $5,000 when Francis moved in five years ago are now going for $70,000.
"It's that nest egg people are always talking about," he said. "I can use the equity in my home to take out a loan to put my son through school.
"I eventually plan to move back to the reservation," he said, "and because of the equity I've built up, I'll be able to buy materials and build my own house."
Equity is the value of property minus the mortgage amount. Homeowners build equity as they pay off their mortgages, increasing the amount of cash they would receive if they decide to sell.
About six months after he bought his house, Francis took a job as financial manager for Neighborhood Housing Services of Phoenix, a nonprofit that helps get low- and moderate-income families into home ownership.
He was anxious to share the dream of home ownership with other Native Americans, so he was disappointed to learn that the organization had only helped one Native client buy a house.
"We did a great job of serving Hispanics," Francis said, "but we had a very poor record of serving Native Americans."
That, the organization hopes, is about to change.
Working with the Navajo Housing Authority to access federal funding under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act, NHS recently started the Navajo Down-Payment Assistance Program.
Navajos who make between 50 and 80 percent of the Maricopa County median income (which is a little over $60,000 for a family of four) can qualify for $10,000 toward a down payment on a home.
NHA is already working with another nonprofit, the Navajo Partnership for Housing, to help tribal members buy houses on the rez or in border towns, but "this is the first time they've gone to a large urban area this far off the reservation," Francis said.
If you've priced houses in Phoenix lately, you know $10,000 won't go far. Most mortgage lenders want to see the buyer plunk down at least 10 percent of a home's value in cash, as a down payment, before they'll approve a mortgage.
Francis has written a proposal to up the maximum down-payment loan to $30,000 and expand the program into Coconino County, but he's not sure whether that will pan out.
In the meantime, Francis suggests urban Diné ready for home ownership try what he calls "layered financing" - combining the Navajo program with low-income housing assistance from the city and state.
There's also the Section 184 loan, a federal program that provides 100-percent government-backed home loans to Native Americans.
"We work with our clients to put together a financing package that works for them," Francis explained.
Only two Navajo families have bought homes with NHS assistance so far, but word is starting to get out. Forty-one students, most of them Navajo, have signed up for NHS's next "Financial Fitness" class - a prerequisite to becoming a client of the company.
Sometimes, warned Francis, it takes years for clients to get their financial house in order before they can get a loan on a real house.
Lenders look closely at credit history, and even people who are careful to make all their monthly payments may be carrying so much other debt, such as car loans or credit-card balances, that mortgage companies will insist that they offload some old debt before borrowing more.
But it's definitely worth it to get a home of your own, he said.
"Home ownership changes your whole mindset," he declared. "To me, it's like going back to a time when Native Americans weren't so dependent on the government."
The assistance is a loan, not a grant, and must be repaid when the house is sold.
"Then we use that money to help someone else," Francis explained.
Information: 602-258-1659.
<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>
Articles are posted under the fair use
(http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html)
doctrine of international copyright law, Title 17 U.S.C.
Section 107. All copyrights belong to the original publisher.
<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>
Program helps urban Navajos buy homes
By Cindy Yurth
Navajo Times
[Times photo - Cindy Yurth]
Todd Francis is helping his company, Neighborhood Housing Services of Phoenix, partner with the Navajo Housing Authority to secure down-payment assistance for urban Diné in the Phoenix area. Francis said many urban Natives are reluctant to buy homes simply because they are unfamiliar with the process, but nonprofit mortgage and development companies like NHS educate clients and walk them through it.
Phoenix, Ariz., Mar. 22, 2007
As an accountant, Todd Francis knew the benefits of home ownership. But as a Navajo, he was reluctant to take the plunge.
"It was actually pretty scary," said the Chinle native, who is Tábaahá (Edge Water Clan), born for Kin Yaa'áanii (Towering House Clan). "It was all new to me. In my whole extended family, I'm only the third homeowner."
But, boy, is Francis glad he bought a house. In south Phoenix, where he lives, lots that sold for $5,000 when Francis moved in five years ago are now going for $70,000.
"It's that nest egg people are always talking about," he said. "I can use the equity in my home to take out a loan to put my son through school.
"I eventually plan to move back to the reservation," he said, "and because of the equity I've built up, I'll be able to buy materials and build my own house."
Equity is the value of property minus the mortgage amount. Homeowners build equity as they pay off their mortgages, increasing the amount of cash they would receive if they decide to sell.
About six months after he bought his house, Francis took a job as financial manager for Neighborhood Housing Services of Phoenix, a nonprofit that helps get low- and moderate-income families into home ownership.
He was anxious to share the dream of home ownership with other Native Americans, so he was disappointed to learn that the organization had only helped one Native client buy a house.
"We did a great job of serving Hispanics," Francis said, "but we had a very poor record of serving Native Americans."
That, the organization hopes, is about to change.
Working with the Navajo Housing Authority to access federal funding under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act, NHS recently started the Navajo Down-Payment Assistance Program.
Navajos who make between 50 and 80 percent of the Maricopa County median income (which is a little over $60,000 for a family of four) can qualify for $10,000 toward a down payment on a home.
NHA is already working with another nonprofit, the Navajo Partnership for Housing, to help tribal members buy houses on the rez or in border towns, but "this is the first time they've gone to a large urban area this far off the reservation," Francis said.
If you've priced houses in Phoenix lately, you know $10,000 won't go far. Most mortgage lenders want to see the buyer plunk down at least 10 percent of a home's value in cash, as a down payment, before they'll approve a mortgage.
Francis has written a proposal to up the maximum down-payment loan to $30,000 and expand the program into Coconino County, but he's not sure whether that will pan out.
In the meantime, Francis suggests urban Diné ready for home ownership try what he calls "layered financing" - combining the Navajo program with low-income housing assistance from the city and state.
There's also the Section 184 loan, a federal program that provides 100-percent government-backed home loans to Native Americans.
"We work with our clients to put together a financing package that works for them," Francis explained.
Only two Navajo families have bought homes with NHS assistance so far, but word is starting to get out. Forty-one students, most of them Navajo, have signed up for NHS's next "Financial Fitness" class - a prerequisite to becoming a client of the company.
Sometimes, warned Francis, it takes years for clients to get their financial house in order before they can get a loan on a real house.
Lenders look closely at credit history, and even people who are careful to make all their monthly payments may be carrying so much other debt, such as car loans or credit-card balances, that mortgage companies will insist that they offload some old debt before borrowing more.
But it's definitely worth it to get a home of your own, he said.
"Home ownership changes your whole mindset," he declared. "To me, it's like going back to a time when Native Americans weren't so dependent on the government."
The assistance is a loan, not a grant, and must be repaid when the house is sold.
"Then we use that money to help someone else," Francis explained.
Information: 602-258-1659.
<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>
Articles are posted under the fair use
(http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html)
doctrine of international copyright law, Title 17 U.S.C.
Section 107. All copyrights belong to the original publisher.
<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>~<>
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages