LEIMERT PARK : Loan Program Aims to Spur Home Ownership

In front of a tree-shaded home on 3rd Avenue in Leimert Park, what Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas called prime real estate, city officials and financiers announced a home loan program designed to increase home ownership in the inner city.

“This will give deserving people the chance to buy a decent new place to live,” said Ridley-Thomas, who spent a year coordinating the program, called Home Works!

“For too long, people have associated affordable housing with rental units and projects. We need to change that.”

The city-sponsored program gets its $100 million in loan capital from Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.

Three financial institutions--Countrywide Funding Corp., First Interstate Bank and Family Savings Bank--will originate and underwrite the loans.

Qualifying low- and middle-income home buyers will be able to finance up to 95% of a home purchase, as well as take out interest-free loans for rehabilitation and home improvement through the city’s Housing Department.

Ridley-Thomas, who chairs the City Council’s Housing and Redevelopment Committee, said the program will help ensure that the economic foundation of the community--home ownership--is strengthened.

Though some inner city areas have deteriorated, he noted, South-Central was one of the few areas in California where property values have increased over the past several years.

“If we want to see neighborhoods on the edge not fall over, we must have programs like this one,” he said.

“Home Works! will help not only first-time buyers, but homeowners who may be facing foreclosure and need help,” he said.

For information, call the Los Angeles Housing Department, (800) 994-4444 or Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services, (213) 749-7797.