Peter J. Miller, Director of Community Development for the City of Westfield. (WNG File Photo)
WESTFIELD – The City of Westfield, through its Office of Community Development, announced on Friday that it will begin accepting applications for a First Time Homebuyers’ Assistance Program. The down payment assistance program will provide 3% of the purchase price, not to exceed $5,000. The program is limited to families earning less than 80% of the Area Median Income. The program application and guidelines are posted on the Community Development Department’s website at www.cityofwestfield.org.
The program is being funded with Community Preservation Act funds through the Community Preservation Committee. City Planner Jay Vinskey said that a certain percentage of CPA funds must be used for community housing, and a balance was building in the account. Community Development Director Peter J. Miller approached the committee about using the funds for first-time homebuyers to attract new families into homeownership in Westfield. $77,625 in CPA funds was granted by the Committee, and approved by the City Council for the program on June 7.
Vinskey said this is the first program project that the CPC has funded. Previously, the community housing funds have been used for creation of affordable housing units and rehabilitation, with Domus, Inc. as the only applicant for the funds. Projects funded through Domus have included the Dansereau House, Reed Annex, Elm Street Housing, Our House, a shelter for homeless youth, and the Moseley Apartments, which has just begun construction.
“The Down Payment Assistance Program will help provide access to homeownership for families of moderate means,” Mayor Brian P. Sullivan said. “The Urban Institute and the Federal Reserve conducted a survey in 2017 that found 53% of renters cited their inability to afford a down payment as the primary barrier to homeownership,” he added.
By providing prospective first-time homebuyers with a down payment assistance program, the City aims to achieve three basic goals. First, to keep local renters in the community by providing an opportunity for personal economic opportunity; second, to help moderate income buyers to more effectively ease themselves to homeownership by reducing the burden a down payment can cause, and third, it provides the Westfield market with a new segment of potential buyers.
Westfield community outreach coordinator Amber Danahey (WNG file photo)
Community Outreach Coordinator Amber Danahey said the first-time homebuyers program was developed in coordination with the Buy Westfield Now (buywestfieldnow.net) initiative. A cooperative made up of representatives from MassHousing, local lenders, local realtors, and other stakeholders designed to promote homeownership in Westfield. Danahey said that Miller took advantage of that initiative to offer additional help to first-time homebuyers, which she said is based on a similar program in Holyoke.
Danahey said that the new program is based on income guidelines. Qualified homeowners must have income levels sufficient to support homeownership, as determined by accepted traditional underwriting standards; however, their income must not exceed 80% of the Area Median Income as published by HUD. Those levels are found below.
For example, maximum income for a single person is $45,200; for two persons is $51,650; three persons, $58,100 and four persons, $64,550. Additional income qualifications and an application may be found on the Community Development page on the city website at www.cityofwestfield.org.
Beneficiaries of the program will be subject to the same rigors any prospective homebuyer would face relative to loan underwriting. All borrowers must complete a certified homebuyers’ education course and qualify for a fixed-rate primary loan from a traditional lender. These funds will also be protected by recording mortgages at the Registry of Deeds. The mortgages, which will be subordinate to a conventional mortgage from a bank or lender, will require repayment should the homebuyer sell the home prior to the expiration of a five-year affordability period.
For more information on the homebuyers’ assistance program, contact Peter Miller at [email protected] or by phone at (413) 572-6246.
