VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- A loan fund launched yesterday with $1 million by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. will target inner-city neighborhoods, with at least part of the funds set aside for veterans of the armed forces.
Presley Gillespie, executive director of Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., announced the new community loan fund at the Veterans Hiring Event and Life Advancement Fair for the oil and gas industry held at the Youngstown air Reserve Station.
Although the loans will be made by YNDC, they will be serviced by Home Savings and Loan Co., Presley said during a news conference. YNDC would allocate "a portion" of the funds to assist veterans in securing home loans in the city, he explained, although a specific amount has not been set aside. "We're going to look at what the demand is over time," he said.
The loans will be made to qualifying borrowers who have been denied a loan from a conventional lender, and will be offered at up to 2% below market rates, he said. Borrowers can earn no more than 120% of the area's median income, or about $50,000 for a family of four. "So a lot of people living in the city would be eligible for that," Gillespie said.
The funds can be used to purchase homes in six neighborhoods: Crandall Park North, the Garden District, Lincoln Knolls, the Idora neighborhood, Brownlee Woods and Handel's. Borrowers also will receive "intense financial training" and coordination among other services, including weatherization, property repairs, maintenance "and other opportunities to increase home ownership success," Gillespie said.
The fund will be a "tremendous catalyst to leverage financial, human and civic resources to enable traditionally underserved veterans to transition to home ownership and transition fully into the mortgage banking system," Gillespie said. "We believe this initiative will also jumpstart our real estate markets while complementing and extending the reach of conventional lenders."
The initial $1 million "will go a long way in the city of Youngstown," and YNDC is continuing to raise money, he said. The available funds include $500,000 from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, slightly more than $300,000 from the city of Youngstown, and funding from the Raymond John Wean Foundation and other foundations.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.