WDET: Detroit Evening Report: Detroit launches down payment assistance program to help renters turn into homeowners

Tia Graham, WDET

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, along with city  council members and the Detroit Housing and Revitalization Department, have launched a program that will provide non-homeowners in Detroit down payment assistance to purchase a home.

The Detroit Downpayment Assistance Program will provide up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for qualified applicants, serving low-income residents who can afford a monthly mortgage payment. A single person must earn less than $41,000 a year to qualify.

The program is expected to help between 240-400 lower-income and middle-class homebuyers in the next two years, depending on the amount each family needs in down payment assistance.

“It is vitally important that as property values continue to climb, people of varying incomes are able to buy a home,” Councilmember Latisha Johnson said in a statement. “Owning a home provides stability for them and their family. Having to move because your landlord has increased your rent means not only having to find a new place to live, but also uprooting your child from their school, leaving friends and relationships you have developed, and possibly leaving the community you love and call home. This program is about helping more Detroiters to remove that instability so that they can feel secure in their future.”

The initiative is funded by allocating $6 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) federal funding. Officials say this program will boost homeownership in the city of Detroit, building on the momentum of homeowners surpassing renters for the first time in over a decade.

“There are a lot of Detroiters who are paying more in rent each month than the cost of a mortgage payment but need some help with upfront costs associated with purchasing a home,” says Duggan. “Thanks to President Biden and the American Rescue Plan Act, we can help hundreds more Detroiters own their own homes, create generational wealth and protect themselves from the increasing rents we are seeing as our city rebuilds. We are already seeing more people benefitting from the opportunity to become homeowners in Detroit, and this is a chance for more Detroiters to join them.”

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