VENTURA : State Loans to Help Families Buy Homes

The city of Ventura has received $20 million in state loans to help moderate-income families buy 253 houses in two proposed developments.

The state granted the city $20 million in single-family mortgage revenue bonds, which will be made available in the form of low-interest loans to first-time home buyers and people who have not owned a house within the last three years.

To qualify for loans to buy houses in the two planned projects, applicants must earn no more than 110% of the median income for Ventura families, which would be $53,250 for a family of four.

Construction is scheduled to begin next summer on 253 three- and four-bedroom houses on land on either side of Saticoy Avenue and south of the Southern Pacific railroad tracks.

Ventura Housing Project Manager Loretta McCarty said that loans will be available to qualified buyers at interest rates of less than 8%.