NeighborWorks Receives Treasury Award to Help Create 240 Homeowners
NeighborWorks Home Partners, local homeownership nonprofit, awarded $2.54 million for down payment assistance
ST. PAUL – Approximately 240 more homebuyers will have access to down payment help thanks to a grant received by local nonprofit. St. Paul-based NeighborWorks Home Partners was awarded $2.54 million by the US Department of the Treasury Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) to be used as capital for down payment assistance to help more Minnesotans become homeowners.
The award was part of a $175.35 million grant to 48 organizations nationwide. These awards were made through the fiscal year (FY) 2020 round of the Capital Magnet Fund (CMF), and will support financing for the preservation, rehabilitation, development or purchase of affordable housing for low-income communities; as well as related economic development and community service facilities such as day care centers, workforce development centers and health care clinics.
“I am very proud to present the largest round of Capital Magnet Fund awards in the history of the program,” said CDFI Fund Director Jodie Harris. “Not only is this the largest dollar amount ever awarded through the program, it is also the largest number of awarded organizations in a single round, leading to more essential investments in affordable housing and related community services across the country.”
The awardees are required to leverage their awards with other private and public investment by at least 10 to 1. For the award to NeighborWorks Home Partners, this leverage will result in over $25 million in investment in homeownership in the Twin Cities.
Jason Peterson, CEO of NeighborWorks Home Partners, said that down payment assistance can have a profound impact on a family’s ability to purchase a home, with long term positive outcomes.
“We know that that are tens of thousands of households in Minnesota who can afford to purchase a home, but for whom access to down payment funds is a barrier to homeownership,” said Peterson. “Supporting homeownership through down payment assistance is a step to stabilizing housing costs, encouraging investment in our communities, and building household and generational wealth.”
More information about the CDFI awards can be found at https://www.cdfifund.gov/programs-training/programs/cmf/award-announcement
About NeighborWorks Home Partners
Access to homeownership can impact a family’s well-being for generations. NeighborWorks Home Partners mission is to empower individuals and communities by helping people buy, fix, and keep their homes. Now in its 40th year, the nonprofit homeownership center offers a full range of services to support equitable, successful, and sustainable homeownership, including down payment assistance, homebuyer education, individual homebuyer advising, home improvement financing, refinance counseling, and foreclosure intervention.
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