New grant supports Minneapolis Advantage Homebuyer Assistance Program
02/01/2009
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and partners Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines (FHLB Des Moines) and Wells Fargo recently announced $1.5 million in new funding from FHLB Des Moines which will be used to help homeowners in more than 20 neighborhoods with down payment and closing cost to purchase foreclosed properties in areas most affected by foreclosures.
Through FHLB Des Moines Affordable Housing Program (AHP), an additional $1 million is now available for home purchases in North Minneapolis and $500,000 in the Northeast and South Central areas. Funds will help low income households (less than 80 percent of area median income) purchase foreclosed homes. The homebuyers will also receive homebuyer and homeownership education through the Minnesota Home Ownership Center.
FHLB Des Moines considered Minneapolis for this grant because of the City's successful Minneapolis Advantage program, piloted in 2008 to provide 50 grants for mortgage down payment and closing cost assistance to purchase foreclosed properties in areas most affected by foreclosures.
The Minneapolis Advantage program provides $10,000 grants to homebuyers for down payment and closing cost assistance for the purchase of foreclosed properties. The property must be a foreclosed property, purchased for owner-occupancy, and owned for a minimum of five years. The FHLB Des Moines grant will be added to existing city and private funds for Minneapolis Advantage.
The criteria used to select the Minneapolis Advantage pilot neighborhoods was used to target areas for the FHLB Des Moines program. Those neighborhoods with a significant percentage of vacant and boarded properties include the Northside neighborhoods of Harrison, Hawthorne, Near North, Willard-Hay, Cleveland, Folwell, Jordan, Lind Bohanon, McKinley and Webber-Camden. These grants can be used for the purchase, construction or rehabilitation of rental and single family housing. The City expects to launch this program in March.