Fairfield County Family Celebrates New Year as HDF’s 500th First Time Homebuyers

Family Achieving the American Dream Through Hard Work, Education & Now, Home Ownership

STAMFORD, Conn., January 2, 2007 –Six years ago, Manal Bostati and her three children, along with Manal’s cousin Muhanad Malas, arrived in the U.S. from Damascus, Syria in search of a better life and education for her children, as well as greater freedom. Today, the 36-year old mother is a student at the University of Bridgeport, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business with hopes of continuing on to law school. She also works every evening and weekend at the local Stop & Shop flower department. Her older daughter, Diala, and son Anwar both graduated from Fairfield High School and now attend Housatonic College, where Anwar is a pre-med student. Younger daughter Tala attends Tomlinson Middle School. Muhanad is a kitchen designer at Home Depot.

Until late last year, the hardworking family lived in an apartment in Fairfield. Now, Manal and Muhanad have moved into the home they purchased in Fairfield for themselves and Manals’ children. The ranch-style home is one of 20 homes on property once owned by the U.S. Navy that the Town of Fairfield purchased to help provide more affordable housing. The family became homeowners by working with the Housing Development Fund (HDF), the unique nonprofit bank that provides funding for first time homebuyers, as well as an array of homebuyer assistance programs. Manal and Bostati became HDF’s 500th first-time homebuyers, cause for further celebration that greatly pleases the organization, as well as the family.

“We’re so happy and excited to celebrate the New Year by living in our own home again,” said Manal, who explained that they lived in her family’s home until they left Syria. “Unlike the apartment, here we have privacy, a wonderful backyard and friendly neighbors. It’s wonderful to know that we have a home that belongs to us.”

The 1,200 square foot home had been cleaned and painted and did not require any major repairs aside from a new floor that the family put down. While on the holiday school break, Manal made curtains for the home’s five rooms and shopped for some additional furniture. An added bonus is that the home is close to Manal’s sister and her family, who came to Connecticut 25 years ago.

HDF’s First Time Homebuyers Program provides education and counseling, as well as down payment and closing cost assistance to help qualified low- and moderate-income households achieve homeownership. Its SmartMove Homeownership Program provides qualified first time buyers with low-interest second mortgages for up to 20 percent of the purchase price of the home – helping to close the affordability gap.

In this case, the organization worked with the Town of Fairfield to provide one-on-one counseling and Connecticut Housing Finance Authority-approved (CHFA) Homebuyer Education Classes to qualify interested parties for the lottery that selected the buyers for seven of the homes. HDF had worked with the Town last year on a lottery for the first 13 homes.

Mark Barnhart, Director of Community and Economic Development for the Town of Fairfield, explained that to qualify for the lottery, participants had to be first time homebuyers who were income eligible, mortgage ready and had completed HDF’s Homebuyer Education program. A preference was given to town employees, residents and military personnel.

In the process of becoming homeowners, Manal and Muhanad worked closely with Mark Barnhart and HDF Homebuyer Education Coordinator Melvina Peters.

“I’m so grateful to Melvina and Mark for the help they gave us in buying our home,” said Manal. “I especially liked the homebuyer education classes, which prepared us for the homebuying process and for homeownership.”

In addition to providing down payment and closing cost assistance for Manal and Muhanad, HDF helped put together the full financing package, including a first mortgage through Citibank, one of its banking partners, as well as the SmartMove and homebuyer assistance loans. As clients like Manel and Muhanad assume the ongoing responsibility of maintaining their homes and protecting their greatest asset, HDF offers post-purchase counseling and remains a friendly resource.

“We were delighted to work on this project with HDF and look forward to collaborating on more projects in the future”, Barnhart added. “Melvina Peters is a real pro and we got tremendously positive feedback on her classes”.

HDF is a certified HUD counselor and lender. It collaborates with, in addition to Fairfield, a number of municipalities in southwestern Connecticut to develop customized housing strategies and to provide technical support. In addition to providing homebuyer assistance, HDF provides funding for affordable multi-family housing and is currently working on new programs on both the homebuyer and developer sides that will make it easier for employees to purchase in or closer to the towns where they work.

“Knowing the impact HDF has had on 500 households throughout southwestern Connecticut by creating workable housing solutions in a high-cost environment is truly a gift for all of us,” said Executive Director Joan Carty.

“We are most grateful to our funding partners – the banks, private developers, major employers, foundations, government agencies and individuals committed to our mission – for their support. Our board and staff look forward to continue working with all of them, as well as our next 500 homebuyers,” she added.

Other recent first time HDF homeowners include a Ridgefield teacher who purchased a home in Danbury, a Stamford teacher who bought a home in Stamford, and a school bus driver, who now also owns a home in Stamford.

HDF is scheduling an event to be held early this year to celebrate the accomplishments of the newest first time homebuyers.

About Housing Development Fund
Founded in 1989, the Housing Development Fund has expanded to serve all of southwestern Connecticut from its headquarters in Stamford and a Danbury office opened in 2004.

HDF offers a variety of homebuyer programs including its First Time Homebuyers Program, which offers one-on-one homeownership counseling as well as down payment and closing cost assistance, its SmartMove low interest second mortgage program, and CHFA-approved (Connecticut Housing Finance Authority) Homebuyer Education Classes. Along with HDF’s requirement that its financing only be linked to traditional, fixed-rate mortgage products, its programs have led to unprecedented stability in its portfolio.

HDF is a HUD-certified lender and Housing Counseling agency that facilitates the development of affordable housing. The unique nonprofit bank manages public/private partnerships to lend funds for this purpose. Through its approach that pools risk for lenders, HDF is a leader in providing first mortgages for the development of multi-family units.

HDF provides low-interest, flexible financing and technical assistance to developers and municipalities. HDF has the largest public/private pool of first mortgage financing for affordable housing in Connecticut – both homeownership and rental - $38 million.

The Housing Development Fund, Inc. has its headquarters at 100 Prospect Street, South Tower Plaza, Suite SP-101, Stamford, Connecticut 06901. It also maintains an office at 8 West Street, Suite 202-204, Danbury, Connecticut 06810. For additional information about HDF, call Tami Strauss at 203-969-1830 x19 or visit www.hdf-ct.org.