Carroll County wants to help people in Section 8 housing buy their own houses, but difficulty finding houses may cripple the initiative.
The county?s Family Self-Sufficiency Program would help eligible participants apply their housing vouchers to mortgage payments instead of rent, said program coordinator Janet Boyd.
“We?re really excited about starting this,” she said.
“We want to put people into the community ? have them invested in it and becoming taxpayers.”
The five-year program also creates a special savings account that can be used to make the down payment on a house, Boyd said. Typically, the down payment is 3 percent of a house?s total value, and the program participants must provide at least one-third of that payment.
The county has worked with area banks and lenders to provide access to low-interest homeownership loans, said Deputy Director of Citizen Services Rita Zimmerman.
No county funds will be used, but the money from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development that would be used for rent will pay a share of participants? mortgage payments.
The county is seeking to place participants in housing valued at $200,000 or less, which is a shrinking resource in Carroll County, Zimmerman said.
Of the 549 voucher recipients in Carroll County, 48 are enrolled in FSS, and three are going through the homeownership program in the next two weeks, Zimmerman said. The county can enroll five per year.The county commissioners recently approved the program, which has been in development for two years.
Program Participants must:
» Have been successful graduates or members of the Family Self-Sufficiency Program for at least 2 years
» Be first-time homebuyers
» Have a steady, full-time job
» Have an income of at least $23,000
