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Upstanding Citizens
Bank to offer assistance to lower-income home-buyers in city
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Business New Haven
8/9/1999
By: Michael C. Bingham
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Citizens Bank last month committed $350,000 to community development programs in New Haven, promoting home ownership among residents in low- to moderate-income census tracts.
CEO James R. Claffee announced that the bank would establish the Citizens Bank Community Fund with a $250,000 investment in the Greater New Haven Community Loan Fund. The fund would lend money to community-development groups and non-profit organizations working to meet affordable housing needs or providing services to low- to moderate-income residents.
Citizens said it would invest an additional $100,000 in the Greater New Haven Community Loan Fund as a deferred loan for down-payment assistance for home-buyers at or below New Haven's median income, thereby reducing those individuals' monthly debt. Also, borrowers at any income level purchasing homes in a low-income census tract would be eligible for a "zero-percent, no-repayment deferred loan" of $3,000. Housing stock sold as a part of a "comprehensive neighborhood redevelopment effort" will have the highest priority.
"Oftentimes companies focus on the high end and less-risky side of the markets and ignore those who may, for whatever reasons, be less fortunate than others," said Claffee. "At Citizens we believe that everyone has the right to home ownership, and that by investing in the heart of the cities where we do business, we can do our part to support the revitalization of New Haven."
As part of the new initiative, Citizens will offer a one-percent rate reduction for eligible mortgage applicants who purchase property in low-income city census tracts. It will also introduce a mortgage closing assistance program which returns one percent of the loan amount back to qualified Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) applicants to help cover fees due at closing.
The bank says it will also fund a "landlord institute," operated by the Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC). Modeled on a program Citizens now runs in New London, this initiative seeks to teach people who purchase multi-family homes in New Haven how to screen tenants, effect basic home repairs and learn about the eviction process.
"We chose to focus on low- to moderate-income home-buyers because based on historical data[they] have been at a disadvantage," said Claffee.
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