NWMT and the partners have been having regular monthly calls, which serve as a great opportunity to provide information, catch up, and have conversations about what we do.
So many of the partners are the only entity in a large area doing the kind of work they do. The opportunity to talk to each other and exchange information is helpful. In addition, it allows NWMT and Montana Board of Housing to provide updates on HUD and NFMC guidelines and compliance information. We appreciate the positive response and participation of the partners on these calls!
SAVE THE DATE
JUNE 26-28, 2012
2012
Montana Housing
Partnership Conference
Billings, Montana
Housing Strategies in a Challenging Economy
Become A Sponsor, General Information
Contact Mary Lou Affleck
at maffleck@bresnan.net
or call (406) 534-2606
In This Issue
It's A Great Time to Buy A Home
CAP of Northwest Montana Successes
2012 Montana Housing Conference
Thank You - HBE Corporate Supporters
HUD Housing Counseling Funding
It's A Great Time To Buy A Home
Check out the new MHN network website designed to provide information and resources for
first-time homebuyers. Click on the image below.
What is one of the biggest reasons that prospective first-time homebuyers are NOT purchasing a home? FEAR. Psychological challenges are rampant for young buyers now, real estate professionals say: "They ask themselves how so many previous buyers could have made so many financial mistakes or been 'duped' into buying in a bubble."
To reassure first-time homebuyers that it is a good time to buy a home and to encourage them to attend homebuyer education before purchasing, the Montana Board of Housing and NeighborWorks Montana are launching a new communication campaign called "Trusted Advisor". The Trusted Advisor campaign will be aired and published throughout Montana to encourage first time homebuyers to attend homebuyer education and get the information they need to make the right choice in homeownership.
Themes of the campaign demonstrate that it is a great time to buy a home, with education and planning, along with real estate agents and lenders who know about programs that make homeownership affordable for first-time homebuyers. Borrowers can be confident that their loan from the Board of Housing will be made in Montana and stay in Montana, so they will also deal with a local person.
A Home for Christmas
Your Contribution Helps Deserving Famlies Keep Their Homes
A foreclosure counselor, trained by NeighborWorks to help families who are in danger
of
losing
their home through
no fault of their own, was contacted by the daughter of an
elderly couple in
great need of help.
The wife has lived at a nursing care facility for the last three years. Her Social Security
and pension income did not cover her monthly expenses at the facility, so the husband is contributing $600 every month to his wife's
medical expenses from his social security, veteran and pension benefits. The husband was doing his very best to keep their mortgage current,
but could not continue to make the payments because of his wife's illness.
Happily, the NeighborWorks Montana housing counselor worked with the couple and a
special team from the
lender to restructure their loan, reducing the family's monthly payments and allowing the couple to keep their
home with an affordable payment.
After an exhausting two years of trying to modify my parent's mortgage on my own without success,
I turned to Brendan Moles at Homeword,
a NeighborWorks
Montana Partner.
I can finally sleep at night, no longer worrying about my parents losing their home.
It is so much more that just another home; it represents everything my parents have
worked so hard for all their lives.
Thank you doesn't seem like enough. I wish I knew a way to express what this really
means to our family but I don't.
So with that said, THANK YOU!" ~ Daughter of the couple
This is one of many happy NeighborWorks stories from 2011. You can help us help more low-income families achieve and sustain homeownership by making a year-end contribution.
From The Director of Statewide Operations
Maureen Rude
When the winds of change are blowing, some people are building shelters and others are building windmills. ~ Ancient Chinese proverb
The Board of Directors, partners and staff of NeighborWorks Montana met recently in a two-day planning session to make sure that our organization was building windmills to take advantage of the winds of change. The outcome of the meeting will be a three-year strategic plan for NeighborWorks Montana.
The group's work was informed by three surveys completed earlier – of partners, board members and other stakeholders in NWMT. Overall, the surveys indicated that NWMT has been successful because of the involvement of a broad range of Montana agencies and individuals in its work. One hundred percent of partners responding to the survey agreed that "NeighborWorks Montana organizations work together whenever possible to make Montana a better place to live and work" and that "NWMT partners agree that working together produces better results with the same or fewer resources." All respondents (100%) also agreed that being a NWMT partner has increased the capacity of their agency to achieve its mission. In the board member and stakeholder surveys, 100% of Board members and 96% of stakeholder respondents agreed that NWMT is having an effective impact on housing for low and moderate income families in Montana.
The group evaluated all NWMT lines of business for mission focus and effectiveness:
1) HOMEBUYER EDUCATION AND INDIVIDUAL HOMEOWNERSHIP PLANNING - Through the network of non-profit agencies throughout Montana, NWMT provides homebuyer education and individual homeownership planning services.
2) RESIDENTIAL LENDING – DOWNPAYMENT AND CLOSING COSTS, GAP FINANCING - NWMT makes amortizing loans to borrowers for down payment and closing costs. NWMT can also provide deferred mortgages for gap financing, repayable at the time of sale or when the property otherwise changes hands.
3) RESIDENTIAL LENDING – FORECLOSURE PREVENTION -
NWMT makes amortizing loans to borrowers who are delinquent on their first mortgage payment and not able to catch up on past due payments, but who have recovered from their financial downturn enough to be able to pay both their first mortgage and the NWMT foreclosure prevention mortgage.
4) MULTI-FAMILY REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT AND ACQUISITION LENDING -
NWMT provides short-term loans to assist multi-family development partners for the acquisition, development, and construction costs of developing rental housing.
5) FORECLOSURE MITIGATION - Foreclosure mitigation counseling is provided through the NWMT network agencies.
6) MANUFACTURED HOUSING REPLACEMENT -
NeighborWorks Montana is an affiliate of the Next Step Network, a network of nonprofit homebuilders which use direct manufacturer purchases to replace the inefficient pre-HUD Code mobile homes in the US with energy-efficient homes and to provide homeowners responsible financing on fair terms.
7) RESIDENT-OWNED COMMUNITIES (ROC) -
NeighborWorks Montana is a Certified Technical Assistance Provider with ROC-USA. When a manufactured home community or "mobile home park" is for sale, NWMT helps the homeowners form a democratic cooperative and find financing so they can purchase their community. NWMT also provides groups with on-going technical, training and networking support to help them build value and be successful over time.
8) MATCHED SAVINGS ACCOUNTS - Participants in matched savings accounts (also known as the Individual Development Accounts) save up to $1,000, which is then matched with philanthropic and grant funds to be used for the down payment on a home purchase. Participants must take a financial fitness class, as well as Home Buyer Education class; establish a banking relationship and establish a savings habit over a six month to two year period.
9) TRUST MONTANA -
Trust Montana is a Montana nonprofit that supports and grows the community housing land movement in Montana, currently operating under the NWMT umbrella. Community land trusts (CLTs) offer low-to-moderate income households the opportunity to buy homes at prices substantially below market prices and assure the homes are permanently affordable.
10) HOUSING POLICY - NWMT works on state and federal housing policy by educating decision makers on the importance of homeownership in building the middle class and the impact of housing on economic development.
Montana Shares, a workplace fundraising organization made up of about 40 Montana nonprofits, is midway through its annual fund drive.
The money raised is distributed among the members, most of whom are too small or specialized to be able to approach workplaces across the state on their own. This year's goal is $396,000 and at the beginning of December, the organization was about half way to its goal.
The Montana Shares prize drawing, held annually around September, offered a broad array of fun prizes in 16 packages. A NeighborWorks Montana employee, accountant Amanda Kelly, was fortunate enough to win one of the prizes, called "Family Friendly." The prize included science games and experiments, toys, a $100 gift card to Target and a family membership to the Museum of the Rockies.
Supporters purchased chances to win the prizes, and the fund-raising effort generated $23,500 to help support the member organizations.
Montana Shares often sponsors small fund-raisers and get togethers. Coming March 22 at 7 p.m. at the Holter Museum of Art, in Helena, is the 14th Annual Jazz & Just Desserts, a benefit and celebration for Montana Shares. Featuring the Wilbur Rehmann Jazz Quintet and local high school jazz musicians, the evening includes scrumptious desserts, punch, coffee, beer and wine. More information will be available in February on the Montana Shares website: www.montanashares.org
Workplace giving campaigns provide employees an easy way to contribute – payroll deduction. However, if you do not have access to Montana Shares at your workplace, you can still support Shares' members by making a donation online. Go to the website listed in the paragraph above and click the Give Now tab. You may also print and mail in the pledge form, found on the same website, along with your check.
If you would like to have your workplace offer a Montana Shares charitable giving campaign, please call (406) 442-2218.
NWMT Partner - Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana Shares Successes
"All things are possible"
Lorena Kirby is a single mother with two girls, ages two and four. Lorena was staying at a local womens' shelter due to unfortunate events in her life and had to get assistance to gain entry into her own home. While obtaining her belongings and finding a safe place to stay for her and her girls, she made the personal goal of homeownership within one year, in order to never have such difficulties to get back home again.
Lorena (left) with Claudine Johnson of CAPNM.
In June 2011, Lorena's cousin told her about the Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana's (CAPNM) First Time Home Buyer (FTHB) Program. She quickly enrolled and completed the course on June 25, 2011. Lorena describes the FTHB Program as a "launching pad for knowing all things are possible, learning there's a lot I can do and not a lot I can't. All the things that were scary were made clear by the FTHB Program. The FTHB Program was incredibly empowering because the whole home buying process is a big mystery; you don't think it's something available to you until the FTHB Program takes away that stigma."
Lorena requested her credit score from the FTHB Program Manager shortly after completing the program, began the housing search process within the local community in August 2011 and quickly found out that she could afford more than she had thought she could. Lorena closed on her new home in Bigfork, Montana on September 13, 2011, providing a stable and safe environment for her to raise her family.
Meet the Ponces
In 2009, Arnulfa and Joe lived with their two children in an apartment complex in Kalispell. The family had relocated to the Flathead Valley from California. They lived in an apartment complex for seven years, where there was no area for the kids to play soccer and they were not allowed to have a basketball hoop outside. The family loves animals and they have always longed to have cats for their family pets. The Ponces have a large family who were restricted from visiting because of the lack of space for guests while living in an apartment.
Joe discovered the Mutual Self Help (MSH) Program while visiting the Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana, when he presented the idea of applying to the program to his wife, Arnulfa, she did not believe they would be accepted into the program. Much to Arnulfa's surprise, the Ponces began building their home in the Spring Creek I Build in November 2009. On August 31, 2010 they completed their home and were able to move in on September 15, 2010. Arnulfa says she "recommends the MSH program. To do it you need to make a sacrifice, but it's well worth it. Now it (the build) seems fast, but when you're doing it , it seems never ending. The program is excellent. We lived in California for 30 years, always paying rent without ever having the option to buy our own home."
Today, the Ponces pay $100 less in their monthly mortgage than they did in their previous apartment complex. The family is able to have a cat for their pet, their family comes to visit often and the children are free to shoot hoops and play soccer in their very own backyard.
Faces Around The NWMT Network
Valentine (Val) Smith, Homebuyer Educator, Beartooth RC&D
In October, Val joined Beartooth RC&D, serving Big Horn, Carbon, Stillwater, Sweet Grass and Yellowstone counties. She has an extensive background in training, writing, project management, teambuilding and management gained through 20 years in Corporate America, Associate Planner for the City of Red Lodge, co-owner of Access Counseling & Training, as well as various assignments in both the public and private sector. Val's master's degree is from Johns Hopkins University. She is passionate about providing quality Homebuyer's Education and one-on-one counseling to her community.
Val and her husband Jim currently live in Red Lodge with their 4 kids, 4 grandkids and extended family living in MD, CA, CO, MT and Greece. Thank goodness they love traveling!
Garrett Montgomery, AmeriCorps Vista Member, NWMT
Garrett is working with the Montana Wyoming Tribal Housing Coalition. Born and raised in upstate New York, he grew up in a rural community in Hudson Valley, graduating from Germantown Central School in 2007.
He went to college in nearby Poughkeepsie, New York, graduating with a B.A. degree in English from Vassar College in 2011, where he captained the rugby team.
Garrett's love for the outdoors drew him to serve his AmeriCorps term in Montana, while a desire to learn firsthand about Native American culture and tradition led him to apply for the specific position with NeighborWorks. We are very happy to have Garrett with us this year.
MBOH staff changes
The Montana Board of Housing now has two different faces in its housing program.
Vicki Bauer, who had worked as an accountant for MBOH, is the new Homeownership Program Manager, replacing the retiring Nancy Leifer.
Vicki joined the Board staff in July 2001, and was promoted to her new position in September 2011. Prior to that, she served as Home Ownership Program Specialist, Financial Specialist, and as Assistant Accounting and Finance Manager. Vicki is a Certified Housing Development Professional and is a graduate of The University of Montana – Helena College of Technology.
Longtime housing professional Mary Bair is now the Multifamily Program Manager.
NeighborWorks Montana welcomes its colleagues to their newest positions.
THANKS - FIRST INTERSTATE BANK
Longtime NeighborWorks Montana supporter First Interstate Bank really stepped up when NWMT needed support to continue offering homebuyer education throughout the state. With a donation of $8,000, First Interstate was the largest single contributor to the program's fund drive to preserve classes. First Interstate is a donor and a sponsor on several levels with NeighborWorks, and was on the founding board that created NWMT. First Interstate Bank works with homebuyers through matched-savings accounts, home loans and rehabilitation loans. NWMT appreciates First Interstate's dedication to and its investments in community development, including supporting opportunities that lead to successful homeownership. First Interstate also will provide a Diamond-level sponsorship of $2,500 at the statewide housing conference in June in Billings.
STOCKMAN BANK APPLAUDED FOR SUPPORT
Special thanks to Stockman Bank for investing $10,000 in NeighborWorks Montana. The investment is part of a package of support for NWMT that includes 1) investing $7,500 in statewide homebuyer education, 2) a contribution of a Diamond sponsorship of $2,500 to the upcoming biennial housing conference to be held in June 2012 in Billings, and 3) a day of volunteerism in several cities across the state, committing staffers from various branches to helping NWMT organizations.
NWMT is very grateful to the investments and ongoing support from Stockman Bank.
Download our FREE DonationApp, register and give it a try with your smart phone or from your computer.
Emergency Homeowners Loan Program (EHLP) Update
Our staff at NeighborWorks and partner organization Rural Dynamics/CCCS were deeply involved with the EHLP program, through a grant received by Montana Board of Housing. Our staff spoke with 500-600 people in July during the outreach period and received 400 pre-applications. Based on the criteria we were given, 325 pre-applications were invited to submit full applications. 305 of them did so.
Of those 305, we were able to submit 86 applications to HUD's fiscal agent by the end of September. We are still working through the process with HUD and its fiscal agent, and as of the beginning of December 15 applications have been approved by HUD or its fiscal agent, 9 have been disqualified, 60 are still in process, and one has withdrawn.
HUD Housing Counseling Funding
In June of this year, NeighborWorks Montana and our network agencies were devastated to learn that Congress had completely eliminated the funding for the homebuyer education and housing counseling program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). But in true Montana spirit, we cinched up our saddle and rode off to look for substitute funding. We are happy to report that we have nearly met our goal of securing $250,000 to be able to continue to provide homebuyer education and individual homeownership planning throughout the state of Montana.
Our thanks to the Montana Board of Housing, First Interstate Bank, Stockman Bank, American Federal Savings Bank, Mountain West Bank, First Montana Bank and US Bank for their generous donations keeping the Homebuyer Education and Homeownership Planning program going in 2012.
Last year, NeighborWorks Montana network members provided homebuyer education and housing counseling assistance to families and individuals in 53 out of 56 Montana counties.
In 2011, the default rate of NeighborWorks Montana borrowers is still less than 1%, far better than the national and state averages. Homebuyer education works – creating more prepared and more successful homeowners, even among low-income buyers. We thank our generous supporters for their understanding and their whole-hearted endorsement of NeighborWorks Montana's education efforts.
To help Congress understand the importance of Homebuyer Education, we asked graduates to write a short note to our Congressional delegation, explaining how Homebuyer Education helped them. Over 168 graduates wrote to Senators Baucus or Tester or to Representative Rehberg with their stories. Kudos to the graduates who took the time to write. Congress and the President have restored partial HUD funding for Homebuyer Education and Homeowners Planning for next year.
Longtime advocate for safe and affordable housing across Montana retires
In sad news for the housing industry in Montana, Nancy Leifer, Single Family Program Manager for the Montana Board of Housing, has retired.
MBOH Executive Director Bruce Brensdal, Nancy's supervisor, said, "Her commitment to affordable housing combined with her organizational skills and her clear-eyed vision for our office made her invaluable. We will miss her tremendously."
Longtime colleague Sheila Rice, Executive Director of NeighborWorks Montana, concurred, saying, "Nancy has the rare gift of always looking for solutions after identifying the problems. Her concise intellect and warm wit will be missed."
She logged more than 25 years in the housing industry. As Bureau Chief and Division Administrator of the Community Development Division of the Montana Department of Commerce in the early 1980s, she created the state's Community Development Block Grant program and supervised Section 8 Housing.
Nancy then worked as coordinator of the Missoula Housing Task Force and Missoula Housing Corporation. While in Missoula, Nancy created and administered a second mortgage program and was certified as a NeighborWorks homebuyer education instructor. She worked with the Missoula Housing Authority to create the first Section 8-to-homeownership program in Montana, and taught homebuyer education to Russian immigrant families with an interpreter.
She joined the MBOH staff in August of 2005 as Homeownership Program Manager. During that time, she provided strong support for housing counseling, homebuyer education and foreclosure counseling through MBOH involvement in support of statewide network in NeighborWorks Montana.
She also was involved in housing policy analysis and wrote the narrative of the White Paper on Housing that now is updated regularly and serves as the housing go-to document for the entire state. Nancy has a B.A. degree from the University of Montana, an M.P.A. degree from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, a M.A. degree in Political Science and a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Montana.
Fortunately for those of us in the housing industry, Nancy intends to do some consulting work after her retirement.
Development Lending Success
NWMT through its Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) status has funding available to provide loans to partners who are constructing rental housing, and in some cases, single family homeownership units. We have been providing pre-development and interim development loans for partners for about three years now. The following projects have received loans from NWMT for development:
| Project | Location | Parter | Units | $ | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equinox | Missoula | Homeword | 35 | $155,474 | Predevelopment |
| Solstice/Confluence | Missoula | Homeword | 36 | $1,592,976 | Land Aquisition |
| Eagles Manor | Helena | Rocky Mountain Development Council | 44 | $857,024 | Construction Participation |
| Ouellette Place | Lewsitown | Homeword/Lewistown CDC | 24 | $100,000 $550,000 |
Predevelopment |
| Burns Street Commons | Missoula | North Missoula COmmunity Dev. Corp. | 17 | $670,674 | Interim Loan |
| Buffalo Court | Havre | District IV HRDC | 20 | $563,000 | Construction |
| Cascade Ridge | Great Falls | Mountain Plains Equity Group/Benefis | 40 | $352,000 | Predevelopment |
| Courtyard | Kalispell | Community Action Partnership | 32 | $214,000 $137,000 |
Acquisition Predevelopment |
An additional loan has been approved for GMD Development for predevelopment funds to purchase and renovate Silverbow Apartments in Butte and Rainbow House in Butte, and lines of credit have been advanced to Homeword for their NSP project in Anaconda and for working capital for the Solstice project.
Trust Montana is a Montana nonprofit that supports and grows the community housing land movement in Montana. Community land trusts (CLTs) offer low-to-moderate income households the opportunity to buy homes at prices substantially below market rates, utilizing a combination of public and private subsidies. CLTs also provide pre-purchase education and support that prepare families for homeownership and after purchase, CLTs provide ongoing stewardship services to backstop homeowners for as long as they own their homes. In exchange, homeowners agree to limit the appreciation they receive when they sell their home to keep it affordable to future generations of homebuyers.
One benefit of community land trusts – homeowner success -- has been proven in the recent mortgage meltdown. A study of 62 CLTs in 29 states showed that conventional homeowners were 10 times more likely to be in foreclosure proceedings than CLT homeowners at the end of 2010 (respectively 4.63% in the conventional market versus 0.46% in mortgages held by CLT homeowners). The study also found that 1.30% of CLT homeowners were seriously delinquent relative to 8.57% of homeowners in the conventional market at the end of 2010, as reported by Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Serious delinquencies included mortgages at least 90 days delinquent or those in foreclosure proceedings. The study also reported that the stewardship services offered by CLTs prevented foreclosure for 82% of the CLT homeowners who became serious delinquent during 2010.
Emily Thaden, the researcher of the study, commented, "Lower earning homeowners were disproportionately hit by sub-prime lending and now they have been hit again by higher unemployment rates. CLTs never allowed homeowners to obtain subprime loans in the first place, and now CLTs — through their stewardship — are buffering the impact of the economic recession on their homeowners. The implication of the study is that greater public support for the CLT model is warranted."
How is it that CLT homeowners, of low and moderate incomes, are faring far better in the foreclosure storm than wealthier households? According to Van Temple, Executive Director of the Diamond State Community Land Trust in Delaware, there are several reasons:
1) Under the community land trust model, the homeowner owns the house and the CLT organization owns the land. The homeowner has a mortgage on his/her house, but the monthly payment is lower than in fee-simple homeownership.
| Membership Type | Annual Fee |
|---|---|
| Nonprofits & Foundations |
$100 |
| Existing conservation, agriculture or other trusts |
$5 per parcel ($25 min.) |
| Existing Community Housing Land Trusts | $5 per home ($25 min.) |
| Individual Members |
$25 |
| Governmental Members |
$100 |
| Stakeholder Member | $25 |
| Businesses | $150 |
2) The CLT homeowner has a 99-year secure ground lease at a nominal monthly fee with the community land trust for exclusive use of the land. Because ownership of the house and land are separated, the homeowner and the CLT are permanently involved in the well being of the household, the house, the land, and the financial arrangements that make it all possible.
3) When a family purchases a CLT home they receive both HUD-certified homebuyer counseling and training in shared-equity homeownership. Mortgages must meet certain criteria to be acceptable to the CLT. The partnership of homebuyer and community land trust begins when interested families enter training and it continues throughout the qualifying and purchase process. After the family moves in the CLT continues to offer support.
Trust Montana is a membership organization. If you or your organization would like to become a charter member of the Trust, please copy the information below into an email and submit to: info@nwmt.org.
Then please make check payable to: NeighborWorks Montana with a "Trust Montana" notation
and send to: NeighborWorks Montana 509 1st Ave. South Great Falls, Montana 59401
Yes, I want to become a member of Trust Montana.
Enclosed is my membership fee of $__________ for, _________________(member type)
Name:_____________________________________________________________________
Address:___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Phone:________________________________Email:________________________________
I'm interested in serving on the board: Yes__________ No _________
Newsletter Staff
Carrie Koppy - ckoppy@nwmt.org Chavonne Horton - chorton@nwmt.org
Sheila Rice - srice@nwmt.org Maureen Rude- mrude@nwmt.org