June 25, 2010

$1 Million Available in 2010; Annual Program Helped 112 Buyers Last Year, including Coram Mother/Navy Vet

Hauppauge, NY – Hopeful first-time home buyers in Suffolk may be eligible for as much as $14,000 in down payment assistance from Suffolk County through a $1 million program that helps buyers clear that last hurdle towards homeownership.

According to Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, the county’s HOME consortium program helped 112 first-time home buyers in 2009 and more than 1,100 homeowners since its inception. “This $1 million in federal HOME aid for 2010 is the highest amount Suffolk has allocated, matching the amounts of the last two years, and provides an important stimulus to the housing market at this time,” said Levy. “More significantly, this program helps our working families achieve the American Dream of homeownership here in Suffolk County.”

Levy was joined at a press conference Friday by Brenda Powell of Coram, a Navy veteran and single mother of a college-aged daughter who purchased her condominium with assistance from the program last year.

“This program is the best thing that has ever happened to me in all my life,” an ebullient Ms. Powell told reporters. “Owning my own home is a dream come true, and it could not have happened without Suffolk County.”

Upon taking office in 2004, Levy lobbied the federal government to double the maximum allowable grant for this region as well as to change the maximum appraised value for a qualifying home from $279,000 to $363,000, in recognition of the high cost of housing in the area. The program provides 75% of a down payment on the purchase of a home, condo or co-op, up to $14,000 (excluding closing costs).

Eligibility is determined by the Suffolk County Community Development Office based upon family size and gross annual income in accordance with HUD standards of 80% of the Nassau-Suffolk Area Median Income. Under the guidelines, a family of two can make as much as $66,000, and a family of four as much as $82,000, and still be eligible. (See below)

The program is open to prospective home buyers in the Suffolk County HOME Consortium area, which incorporates nearly all of the county with the exception of the towns of Babylon and Islip (which run their own down payment programs) and incorporated villages in the towns of Southold and Shelter Island.

Applications will be mailed out beginning June 28 and will be processed on a first come, first served basis. Those interested in receiving an application can contact the Suffolk County Community Development Office at 631-853-5705.

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