money ReHouse Bay answering call for affordable homes | Guestview
On Sunday, Feb. 13, The News Herald’s editorial entitled “In Bay County, affordable housing is the lost American Dream” lamented the rising purchase price of new construction homes locally while also demanding that local officials “step up and lead the way to truly affordable housing.”
The county’s ReHouse Bay Housing Program is doing just that — leading the way in affordable home ownership efforts in our area. Since the beginning of the year, the county’s program has assisted qualifying buyers in closing on 11 homes with an average purchase price of $222,000 each. The county-provided assistance to these new homeowners totals $550,000.
Background: In Bay County, affordable housing is the lost American dream | Editorial
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Another 28 clients are slated to close within the next 60 days, obligating an additional $1.4 million of $30 million in Hurricane Housing Recovery Program (HHRP) funding allotted to Bay County by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. Approximately another $6 million is available to Bay County through the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) program.
Our programs are intended to assist low- and moderate-income families with purchase assistance, housing rehabilitation, home replacement, disaster assistance, emergency repair assistance, foreclosure prevention and mortgage assistance.
We strive to move people through the process quickly. Factors such as household income, family size, and supporting documentation provided by the applicant help determine whether a candidate is eligible, and everyone’s circumstances are different. We offer multiple case workers focused on customer service, and our motto is “first qualified, first served.” The program partners lenders, developers, and real estate professionals to potential clients so that they may work cohesively to broker results.
The News Herald’s editorial specifically highlighted new construction homes as unattainable and unaffordable for many residents; however, our overarching goal is home ownership, whether brand new or not. The county’s program will soon roll out a feature to assist nonprofit organizations in reducing the cost of building new homes for qualifying low- to moderate-income applicants.
To learn more about our program or to determine if you might be eligible, visit rehousebay.org or call the Bay County Housing Program at 850-215-2479.
Doug Moore is a Bay County commissioner, District 4, who serves as an ex officio member of the Bay County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee.
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: ReHouse Bay Housing Program leads the way in affordable homeownership
