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http://lihp.org/help.aspx#homebuyer
The NYS Long Island Senate Majority Delegation allocated $25 million to assist Long Island businesses retain and recruit employees. Many large and small businesses, including hospitals and universities are actively promoting the program to their employees and both the employer and the employee will benefit. Over 25 Long Island employers are currently participating in the “HELP” Program. Since its inception in June of 2007, four employees have purchased and moved into their homes. These new homeowners will also receive up to $20,000 for rehabilitating and fixing items in the home that need to be repaired.
The mission of the HELP Long Island Program is to retain and recruit a skilled and motivated workforce on Long Island to ensure economic stability into the future. To advance this mission, the program provides employees of participating businesses financial assistance to purchase and rehabilitate a home on Long Island.
Quick Links
- Employer Assistance Housing Benefit Program
- Employer-Specific Program Customization
- Matching Funds of Employer
- How Do I know if I Qualify?
- Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible Homes
- Homebuyer Assistance
- Making the Dream of Homeownership a Reality on Long Island
Employer Assistance Housing Benefit Program
An employer with one or more non-related employees may provide qualified employees with housing assistance as part of their employee benefit plan.
Employer-Specific Program Customization
With the assistance of the Long Island Housing Partnership, Inc. (LIHP), employers are able to tailor the HELP Long Island Program to their specific employee recruitment and retention needs. For example, an employer may, subject to their legal and financial counsel’s advice:
- Require an employee to work for the company a certain number of years to be eligible for the benefit
- Allow only a certain number of employee participants a year
- Provide that the funds are a loan to be repaid by the employee
- Set other eligibility criteria within the guidelines.
Matching Funds of Employer
As part of the program, employers would provide an employee with a minimum contribution of $3,000 (for employers with fewer than 50 employees) or $5,000 (for employers with more than 50 employees), up top $10,000 per employee. The HELP Long Island Program matches the employer’s contribution 3 to 1.
How Do I know if I Qualify?
Individuals working for a company that offers an Employer Assistance Housing Benefit Program are eligible to receive funds through the HELP Long Island Program. Contact your human resources or employee benefits representative directly to find out if your company is a participant in an Employer Assisted Housing Program. If not, please have your employer contact the Housing Partnership.
Eligibility Criteria
| HUD Income Guidelines (for 2007) | |
|---|---|
| Family Size | Maximum Income* |
| 1 | $85,400 |
| 2 | $97,500 |
| 3 | $109,700 |
| 4 | $121,950 |
| 5 | $131,700 |
| 6 | $141,450 |
| 7 | $151,200 |
| 8+ | $160,950 |
A qualified employee must:
- Purchase a home in Long Island
- Have tax returns for last 3 years
- Not be in contract to purchase a home
- Have an annual income at or below 130% of the HUD median income guidelines based on family size (see chart to the right)
- Attend mortgage counseling
- Be able to secure a mortgage from a recognized lending institution
- Meet other program guidelines as defined by the HELP Long Island Advisory oversight Committee
Eligible Homes
Eligible housing for employees are homes to be occupied as a principal residence on Long Island and include:
- Single family residences
- Condominiums
- Cooperatives
- Manufactured homes
- Non-rental units
- Appraised value of home does not exceed median price of a home on Long Island (approximately 450,000)*
*Adjusted annually
Help Purchasing a Fixer Upper
Homebuyers will also be eligible to receive up to an additional $20,000 in funding to make any necessary eligible repairs if they are purchasing a pre-existing home.
Homebuyer Assistance
LIHP provides a variety of mortgage and homebuyer counseling and education programs at no charge. We assist homebuyers throughout the purchase process by:
- Determining the type and costs of repairs required, if any
- Helping select a licensed contractor, if necessary
- Determining affordability
- Educating homebuyers about other available affordable housing programs & grants
Making the Dream of Homeownership a Reality on Long Island
Since 1998 the mission of the Long Island Housing Partnership has been to provide affordable housing opportunities to those who, through the ordinary, unaided operation of the marketplace, would be unable to secure decent and safe homes.
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-lihous056058093mar05,0,3361743.story
BY DENISE M. BONILLA
denise.bonilla@newsday.com
March 5, 2009
Trying to jolt a lethargic housing market, the Town of Babylon announced yesterday it will give middle-income families a $15,000 down payment match toward the purchase of their first home.
Those who earn 81 to 120 percent of the area’s median income will qualify for the program. For example, a single buyer can make up to $81,550 and a family of four up to $116,500, Supervisor Steve Bellone said. The home must be purchased within the town, and while the program is open to all of Long Island, priority will be given to those who are already town residents.
“We’re not going to get out of this [economic] crisis without stabilizing and fixing the part that was the source of this crisis and that is our real estate market,” he said. “[This program] is intended for us to do our part in helping to stabilize our housing market here and hopefully help move it into a positive direction.”
The $15,000 payments will come from a revolving fund that uses money from the town’s affordable housing trust fund. Developers who do not set aside 20 percent of their units for affordable housing pay into this fund. The town initially will use $1.05 million to assist 70 families, Bellone said.
The money must be repaid, he said, when the home is either sold or refinanced. Home buyers must also take part in a one-time mortgage counseling session with the Long Island Housing Partnership so they understand home ownership.
“This is not a handout, this is a help up,” Bellone said. “People will not be put into homes if they’re not able to sustain those homes.”
Purchased homes must undergo an energy audit as part of the town’s Green Long Island Homes program, which updates homes’ energy efficiency.
Peter Elkowitz, president of the Long Island Housing Partnership, called the program unique because most HUD-funded programs only provide housing assistance to families who earn 80 percent or less of the area’s median income. Under such guidelines, a family of four could not exceed an income of $77,700. Elkowitz said several families who came into his office in recent months did not meet the HUD income guidelines but would meet Babylon’s new guidelines.
“This is the first down payment assistance program that goes that high,” he said of the town’s cap of 120 percent of median income. “That’s a real number for a family of four.”
Phil Weiden of the Long Island Board of Realtors said there are 1,336 homes for sale in the town and the median selling price is $359,000. He said he hopes Babylon’s program paves the path “for other towns across Long Island to come up with their own version of what they can do.”
Buyer qualifications
Applicants to Babylon’s housing assistance program for middle-income families must:
Be HUD-defined first-time home buyers.
Have a total household income between 81 and 120 percent of area median income – from $77,701 to $116,500 for a family of four. Occupy purchased home as a principal residence.
Not be in contract to purchase before the start of the program (March 2).
Contribute $15,000 toward the down payment.
Buy a home in Babylon town for up to $396,150.
Participate in the Long Island Green Homes Program, which updates homes’ energy efficiency, within six months of purchase.
Attend a one-time mortgage counseling session with the Long Island Housing Partnership.
