Buying a home is one of the most important purchases someone can make, and a down payment assistance program relaunched by the Columbus Consolidated Government's Community Reinvestment Department aims to make it easier for first-time buyers in Muscogee County.
The program, Sweet Home Columbus, now provides up to $30,000 in down payment assistance to HUD income-eligible first-time home buyers. This means their household income is under 80% of the area median income.
"We made a big change in the program because we started noticing that the gap of affordability for homeownership for defined low-income households was pushing the American dream of homeownership out of reach for this population," Robert Scott, director of the Community Reinvestment Department, told the Ledger-Enquirer.
When Scott became the director in 2020, the down payment assistance program offered participants up to $10,000 and wasn't well-marketed, he said. The department raised the amount of assistance to $15,000 in 2022.
The program had three participants from 2020-22 and four participants in 2023. Scott hopes the rebranding and significant increase in available assistance results in more participation.
"(Sweet Home Columbus) is the first step in many that our department has to address accessibility and availability of affordable housing," Scott said.
In Columbus, the 2024 HUD income-eligible limits, in effect until June 2025, range from $39,500 for a single-person household, $56,400 for a four-person household and $74,450 for an eight-person household.
More information about the income limits is on the Community Reinvestment Department's website.
"Sweet Home Columbus provides an avenue for our citizens who work hard every day to inch closer to the American Dream of home ownership," city manager Isaiah Hugley said in a news release. "This is a positive step for our citizens who can begin to utilize this funding source as an accelerant toward wealth creation through the traditional model of home ownership."
Columbus residents who want to participate in the program must complete an eight-hour HUD-approved Housing Counseling Seminar within a year of purchasing a home. After completing the seminar, they would contact a certified mortgage lender to be pre-approved for a loan and begin the process of getting approved for the down payment assistance.
Only participants with a fixed-rate loan are approved.
All of the assistance must go toward the down payment, and the purchaser isn't allowed to receive any funds as cash back at closing. Recipients must occupy the home as their primary residence for five to 10 years, depending on the amount of assistance.