Oceanside to Offer Two Housing Aid Programs
Two federally funded housing assistance programs--one for low-income renters, another for middle-income home buyers--were announced Friday by Oceanside officials.
The two programs will help just 119 families in a city where 10,000 or more people are deemed in need of housing assistance, but officials say even that relatively small amount will help.
The rental assistance program would require participants to agree to participate in some sort of self-help program--such as job training, education or the like--so they can eventually improve their income. In exchange, the government would provide a rental subsidy to tide them over.
Additionally, at the end of the five-year program, the renters would receive a cash bonus of about $2,000 for completing it.
The Family Self-Sufficiency Program will be available for up to 65 families and will be filled by candidates already on waiting lists for rental assistance through the city’s Housing Department.
The other program, available to up to 54 prospective homeowners, would reduce their federal income tax liability to an amount that would equal a 20% reduction in their monthly mortgage interest payment, effectively allowing more middle-income people to qualify for home purchase.
The program involves a $4.3-million state grant, and its participants are limited to annual incomes not exceeding $41,408 for one- or two-member households, or $47,595 for households of three or more.
“This program fills a niche. It’s one of the few that helps moderate-income, first-time home buyers,” said Richard Goodman, director of the city’s Housing Department. A dozen lending firms have already promised to participate with the city in the program, he said.
The rental assistance program, funded by a $2.9-million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is available to households that earn less than $21,000 a year.
The rental program will require participants to enter into a contract with the city, promising to participate in some sort of social service that will lead to better jobs and reduce their future need for public assistance, Goodman said.
As participants meet their goals leading to economic self-sufficiency, some grant money will be placed in an escrow account that will serve as a lump-sum cash award at the end of the five-year program, Goodman said.
The rental program calls for the participant to pay 30% of his monthly income toward rent, with the subsidy paying the balance, to a limit based on the size and cost of the apartment for which the family qualifies.
With more than 2,000 people in Oceanside already on established waiting lists for housing assistance, and with 10,000 city residents identified as low-income people in need of rental assistance, “this program won’t be reason for low-income people to move into Oceanside,” City Councilwoman Nancy York said. “But the idea is to get as many people as we can off of public assistance.”
