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September 2006 — Vol. 84, No. 7

Program helps employees in targeted cities buy, rehab homes

 

If your company is located in Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, New London, Waterbury or Windham/Willimantic, a state program might help your employees buy a home close to work.

The state recently revived the Urban Rehabilitation Homeownership (UR Home) Program. UR Home is a purchase/rehabilitation loan program with Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) mortgage funding. It helps state, municipal and private-sector employees buy homes that need rehabilitation in the targeted cities.

Buyers receive 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages a t 0.25% below the CHFA regular Homebuyer Program rate. In addition, buyers are eligible for deferred loans of $20,000 for a single-family home and $25,000 for a two- to four-unit dwelling for rehabilitation costs. The dwellings must be owner-occupied and need at least $5,000 of property improvements. The loan is forgiven at 20% per year for five years. There are no income-limit requirements on the CHFA first mortgage.

Private-sector employees are eligible if the employer agrees to provide a financial contribution ($250 to $2,500, depending on the number of employees) to each employee who buys and rehabs a home.

Initially launched in 2001, the program had expired in 2003 when funding ran out. New funding has become available as a result of a legal settlement between the state and a corporation that had violated state law.

 

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