ST. PAUL, Minn. — For families trying to achieve home ownership, the barriers to owning a home can be more than just money. Cultural and language differences or the lack of trusted real estate and financial advisors can be just as daunting.
An innovative program launched today that will evolve over the next five years on St. Paul’s East Side will help inexperienced purchasers and new homeowners overcome these kinds of barriers. The program is sponsored by Payne-Lake Community Partners and will be available to residents in the Payne/Phalen and Dayton’s Bluff neighborhoods. The goal is to build family assets and strengthen community through increasing home ownership within underserved communities.
“More than 75 percent of white Minnesotans are homeowners. For communities of color and residents in emerging markets though, only about 41 percent of residents own a home,” said Mayor Randy Kelly of the City of St. Paul. “Increasing home ownership is an enormous opportunity, not just to invest in the future of people who are living and working in the area, but in the community itself. Nothing is more important to the vitality of a neighborhood than home ownership.”
Key funding for the initiative comes from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which is giving a five-year, $2 million grant to Payne-Lake Community Partners. The grant is expected to help attract up to $60 million in additional funds. Already, the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency has committed $5.25 million in mortgage financing to the housing initiative, which will complement the work of its new statewide Emerging Markets Homeownership Initiative that was unveiled on June 30.
Additional partners in this effort include the City of St. Paul, The McKnight Foundation, St. Paul Travelers, Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Family Housing Fund, Fannie Mae Minnesota Partnership Office, Home Ownership Center, African Development Center, Chicanos Latinos Unidos En Servicio, Community Neighborhood Housing Service, Dayton’s Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services, East Side Neighborhood Development Company, Neighborhood Development Alliance, Rondo Community Land Trust, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, Bremer Bank, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.
The comprehensive effort will provide help for people at every step of the way to become homeowners. It complements other programs designed to help new homeowners by scaling up what is already working and promoting breakthroughs in the field. Among the goals are:
- Connect new and prospective homeowners with a network of trusted advisors who can provide counsel on everything from selecting a home to financing;
- Develop and promote culturally and language specific home ownership programs;
- Develop and promote innovative financing tools; and
- Create partnerships with employers to promote savings programs.
The program also aims to help homebuyers stay in their homes. “We are seeing more and more new homeowners lose their homes through foreclosures,” said Maritza Mariani, associate director of the Neighborhood Development Alliance. “The additional support services of this program, like financial and job counseling, will help families make the transition to long-term, successful home ownership.”
In addition to education and counseling, the initiative will support the construction and rehabilitation of homes in the area. The initiative’s five-year goals are to help 250 prospective homeowners buy their first home, support 500 current homeowners to ensure they are successful and to assist in the production of 250 new units of owner-occupied housing.
“This is one of the most comprehensive, financially sound and geographically focused initiatives of its kind,” said Hodding Carter III, president and CEO of Knight Foundation, which is based in Miami. “Helping people, especially new Americans, own their own homes not only enriches their lives, but weaves them into the fabric of the communities where they live and work. And that, in turn, enriches communities in myriad and wonderful ways.”
“The payback for helping people navigate the very complicated processes of buying and maintaining homes will be a stronger community,” said Rip Rapson, president of The McKnight Foundation, which provides funding to Payne-Lake Community Partners. “Home ownership will complement the economic growth that is taking place along Payne Avenue, East Seventh Street and the new Phalen Boulevard. When people who work here have an ownership stake in living here, the entire community benefits.”
Payne-Lake Community Partners emerges from a national funding collaborative called Living Cities: the National Community Development Initiative. Several leading foundations, financial institutions, nonprofit organizations and the federal government fund Living Cities, including Knight Foundation and The McKnight Foundation.
About Payne-Lake Community Partners
Payne-Lake Community Partners (PLCP) is a community development initiative created to accelerate investment in and revitalization of two Twin Cities’ commercial corridors and their surrounding neighborhoods, the Payne-Arcade and Phalen Corridor area of St. Paul and the Lake Street area in Minneapolis. Founded in 2004, the goal of PLCP is to promote an integrated approach to community development that builds mixed income, multi-cultural communities that work. For more information about PLCP, visit www.plcp.org.
About The McKnight Foundation
Founded in 1953 and endowed by William L. McKnight and Maude L. McKnight, the Foundation has assets of approximately $2 billion and granted about $85 million in 2004. Mr. McKnight was one of the early leaders of the 3M Company, although the Foundation is independent of 3M. For more information about the Foundation or these grants, visit www.mcknight.org.
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of St. Paul and 25 other U.S. communities. Founded in 1950, Knight invests in communities where the Knight brothers had newspaper interests. For more information about the Foundation, visit www.knightfdn.org.