Changes made to city of Youngstown’s housing assistance program

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Those looking for downpayment assistance through a City of Youngstown program faced delays, but city officials say they were making updates to the program to allow for more flexibility.

The “At Home Youngstown” program was announced earlier this year following an allocation through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). It’s a collaborative effort through the city and lenders to provide $10,000 to approved applicants for downpayment and closing cost assistance toward the purchase of a home.

After purchasing, applicants may also be approved for an additional $15,000 for energy-efficient upgrades to the home.

When the program began on July 22, the city, as well as Catholic Charities (a partner in the program) received hundreds of calls from applicants.

Nikki Posterli, director of Community Planning and Economic Development for the city, said they came across some unexpected challenges during the launch, however, which she addressed during a committee meeting on Tuesday.

“The housing market has changed so much. We learned that just when implementing our own At Home program. We thought we were ready to roll out, then we were like, ‘Wait, a minute.’ The housing market changed so much that we had to make, we’re making changes as we speak to the parameters of the program so it is more appealing, and so that more people can qualify for it,” she said.

Posterli spoke to WKBN about the issues later, saying they felt it was important to remove the income limits so that anyone could participate, with the goal of spurring more home ownership in the city. She said the program was also opened to more lenders so that credit unions can now participate.

“What we were looking to do… was just allow for more flexibilities in the program. We removed the income restriction so that now more people who want to move into the City of Youngstown have the ability to do so. We also realized that by selecting lenders to be participants in this program, we’re excluding a lot of good lenders who would have participated in this program,” she said.

The previous program required that the total household income must fall between $27,450 and $160,000. Now, those income limits were removed.

Sharon Moser, a loan officer for Novus Home Mortgage, says she’s thrilled the income requirements were removed.

“I have buyers that as soon as it comes out, I’m going to call them back and say now we can move forward because they didn’t have a down payment, they didn’t qualify for the other grant programs that I currently have to offer. So since this is in place, these two buyers get to go look and make offers on homes,” Moser said.

Posterli said one of the issues was with rising property values. The new guidelines would allow those who are considered middle-income to also participate.

“Property values have gone up, the market has changed, interest rates are going up, so we don’t want to lock someone into something that is still unaffordable to them or… put them in a program that doesn’t really give them the access that they need,” she said.

Posterli said the major goal was that they didn’t create more landlords or out-of-state buyers, so that is how the program was crafted.

Other requirements remain in place, such as the property purchased being the buyer’s principal place of residence, the property being in the city of Youngstown, and participants not having owned another property within the last year before applying.

The city’s housing director, John Noga, also spoke up during Tuesday’s committee meeting, saying they were finding that many people who wanted to apply did not have the financial ability to purchase.

“I would say 80-85 percent of the people I talked to weren’t even financially close to understanding what a home purchase was. They saw that the money was available and did think, you know, I’m renting and I would like to be a homeowner, but in terms of sort of understanding that whole process… and I knew this when we started, but it was reinforced coming in, in terms of financial literacy and home buying literacy, there’s a huge need — a huge need,” he said.

The At Home Youngstown program also includes a requirement that applicants first participate in a homebuyer education program, which is offered by the Catholic Charities Regional Agency.

Participants must provide $500 in up-front earnest money.

The changes to the At Home Youngstown program were formally approved during a Board of Control meeting on Thursday.

The program started in late July — though none of the $5 million to help 500 home buyers has yet to be allocated. Youngstown’s finance director says he’ll deposit the money at Huntington Bank on Friday, and depending on the bank, expects the money to be available sometime next week.

Those interested in the program are asked to contact Catholic Charities.

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