HDF recieves $100,000 grant from Fairfield County Community Foundation

December 26, 2008; As originally appeared in The Advocate

STAMFORD - The Housing Development Fund, based in Stamford, is a nonprofit bank that provides funding for affordable housing and homebuyer assistance programs. Recently, the fund, which also has a Danbury office, received a two-year $100,000 grant from the Fairfield County Community Foundation.

As a result of the grant, next year and in 2010 the fund will be able to expand the education and counseling components of its First-Time Homebuyer Program and provide financial assistance to close the affordability gap for buyers. Since 1997, more than 4,000 low- to moderate-income households have used the education and counseling offered to become mortgage-ready in the long-term.

More than 700 have achieved home ownership with downpayment and closing-cost assistance tied to fixed-rate first mortgages from conventional banking partners. The fund also provides post-purchase counseling to assure that clients protect their home investments. To date, more than 99 percent of the new home buyers have kept their mortgage payments current.

The fund was founded in 1989 and serves all of southwestern Connecticut, with counseling; home buyer assistance programs, including the First-Time Homebuyer program; SmartMove low-interest second-mortgage programs; educational classes approved by the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority; and a Below-Market-Rate Mortgage program. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has named the fund as a certified lender and housing counseling agency.

Through the fund, a machine operator and his family now own a condo in Danbury. A librarian and his family live in a below-market-rate unit they bought with the help of the fund, a Stamford Community Development loan and a first mortgage from Citibank.

On another affordable housing note, the Community Foundation has awarded $300,000, the largest donation in the organization's history, to the Fairfield County Collaborative Fund for Affordable Housing, to encourage the production and preservation of affordable housing, in rental and ownership forms. The foundation's chairman is W. Michael Funck of Riverside, a senior adviser at Hynes, Himmelreich, Glennon & Co., a financial planning and wealth management firm in Darien. The Collaborative Fund was formed two years ago by the Community Foundation, corporations, banks, branches of United Way and private charitable organizations.

The Collaborative Fund offers core operating support and technical resources to develop community partnerships that bolster the long-term sustainability of housing initiatives.

Since 2007, the Collaborative Fund, based in Westport, has awarded $905,000 in grants to eight qualified nonprofit housing developers, which now have more 1,000 units available and 1,083 units under management. These projects will ultimately benefit more than 5,000 Fairfield County residents. The fund estimates there are 52,000 families in Fairfield County, where the median price of a home recently was $545,000, who are not able to afford a $500,000 home or find a reasonable rental.

The Fairfield County Community Foundation improves quality of life by promoting community and regional philanthropy. Individuals, families, corporations and organizations may establish charitable funds or contribute to funds that exist. The organization offers advisory services and leads initiatives to tackle community issues and needs. This past January, it merged with the Greater Bridgeport Area Foundation, for a combined $130 million in net assets. The history of the two groups includes making more than $100 million in grants to nonprofit groups in the county and beyond.