Housing GSO: HRA Greensboro Affordable Housing Plan

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SUMMARY

NOTES | Community Engagement Meetings

• What about a new mortgage product? o New products with loosened criteria is what caused the foreclosure crisis in the first place o Some apprehension for not looking at credit scores seriously, unless there’s a life event o Larger move towards financial literacy — thinking about what financial services people are ready for — there is a tiered system: ▪ HUD class ▪ Individual Development Account Program: for people who could be ready in 6-12 months, but need specific support ▪ Financial Wellness Bootcamp: 5 weeks of credit/budgeting classes, looking at their spending, etc. o They have a matching product in High Point, but not in Greensboro. ▪ State has a program you can match • One thing that’s nice about builders at the lower price point: developers aren’t competing with each other, because they can’t build enough – could City incentivize builders to come back and build at this price point? • HCG works all over the City and has no problem in finding participants o #100Homes social media buzz and TV/news publicity has been enough … this combined with NDD support allows you to reach every generation o They’re already at 250, and will hit 300 by the end of the year o This has even driven up demand for other agencies to Winston-Salem who are doing the bootcamps and programs that HCG is starting • 18 months from now, how do you see this (burning through the bond $$)? o When they had their annual breakfast in June, they were at 140 homes, and had $26M in real estate sold — thinks the value proposition from growing property values and changes to homeowners and community improvement could incentivize reallocation of funds • Do you have a feel of the “but - for” homebuyers in the DPA program? o She’d say that the amount of $$$ that people have in their reserves is an indicator of whether of not they would do it anyway ▪ EX: 401(k), $8-9k in liquid money for reserves, etc. o She would say the breakdown for this is around 50-50 – 50% of DPA recipients would have bought homes anyway • The model of trying to address cushion reserves after closing is in line with the mandated IDA account o They educate people about building up their emergency fund in the same way they build their down payment/liquid reserves savings o Before people get the DPA, she makes sure that people start to save the difference between the rent and new mortgage — this discretionary income has to go into their emergency fund • What is the operational structure around the IDA Account? o They have to talk to their success coach to take money out o After the class is over: they encourage them to keep the same account, but they don’t have to check in to withdraw afterwards o This could work with an Enhanced Servicing project — where buyers have to sign off on this to get DPA funds — Sofia thinks it would be a great idea to catch folks at that moment of happiness when they get the $10k o Just gives HCG the knowledge in this process — just letting them know allows them to provide an additional service if they’re struggling — if they know, the people don’t have to reach out to them 5-6 years later, but HCG can reach out to the homebuyers

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