NeighborWorks America Assists New Orleans in Launching a $52 Million First Time Homebuyer Initiative



New Orleans’s Mayor Mitch Landrieu announces
the $52 Million First Time Homebuyer Initiative
at a press conference on October 27. NeighborWorks
Southern District Senior Program Coordinator Donna Tally
and City of New Orleans’ Director of Housing Policy
Brian Lawlor are on the Mayor’s left.


NeighborWorks America’s Southern District is providing technical assistance to the City of New Orleans’ Office of Community Development to execute a $52.3 million soft second mortgage homebuyer assistance initiative that will provide hundreds of New Orleans families an opportunity to become homeowners. The initiative is designed to strategically promote homeownership opportunities for low and moderate income residents and families who are buying their first homes.

“We know that promoting and incentivizing homeownership is key in revitalizing our neighborhoods across the city,” said Mayor Landrieu at a press conference announcing the program on October 27. “This program will put Hurricane Katrina recovery dollars to use for their intended purpose – helping the citizens of New Orleans rebuild their lives and neighborhoods post-Katrina. It will also reduce blight and stimulate the local economy.”

Mayor Landrieu said that this has truly been a partnership between the public, private, faith-based and nonprofit sectors. He thanked all partners, including NeighborWorks America, for their role in getting the program up and running.

Southern District Senior Program Coordinator Donna Tally, under the leadership of District Director Donald Phoenix, created a partnership with City of New Orleans’s Director of Housing Policy Brian Lawlor to provide technical assistance for this initiative. NeighborWorks worked with the city’s staff to design, develop, and deliver the program, providing technical assistance to develop the underwriting criteria, the mechanics required to run the program, and the training for local lender partners.

“This is a great example of the power of partnership,” said Tally. “Mayor Mitch Landrieu put the right people together and things started happening. NeighborWorks America is proud to be part of the team that designed and delivered this program because our investment will pay exponential dividends for families and communities across the Crescent City.”

“The investment of these funds will help neighborhoods in New Orleans reach a tipping point in sustainability as the recovery continues,” said Phoenix. “NeighborWorks America’s Southern District is honored to play an instrumental role in the delivery of this program, the largest of its kind in the City of New Orleans. We look forward to an ongoing partnership with Mayor Landrieu and the City of New Orleans.”

The press conference announcing the soft second homebuyer initiative is available for viewing on YouTube.

A Glimpse Into the World of Community Development

Why Community Development? Why is it important and what does it take to succeed for the communities being served? Hear the answers directly from individuals who chose community development as a career path. Watch the video below, where the passion and dedication of those in this field are evident, then read the blog below from Nicholas Salerno, who’s just starting his career in community development at NeighborWorks America.

Careers in Community Development

Can't see the video plug in above? View it here: http://youtu.be/WkDR9X8M-vc 

The Beginning of My Journey in Community Development
By Nicholas Salerno
NeighborWorks America

During my sophomore year of high school, I had my life planned out: get my B.B.A in International Business, travel the world, have a high earning salary, “living the dream.” It was not until sophomore year of college where that “dream” meant something completely different.

I spent six months in Granada, Spain where I studied the Spanish culture and language. The original purpose of this experience was to learn the language and to minor in Spanish (for my resume). It ended up doing that but it also helped me learn more about myself. I came back to the States with new ideas and perspectives about myself and my own culture through new eyes. I planned on taking these new skills and knowledge and focus on issues we had domestically rather than continue my efforts internationally.

Through my new lenses, I noticed the racial tension that was in my community on the Southside of Chicago. I saw this as opportunity for myself to start a dialogue with residents at local nonprofits, food shelters and other organizations in the Chicagoland area to understand what is really happening. After gaining a better perspective, I realized that I did not have the tools needed in order to solve any problems or deepen the dialogue to a point where action could be put in place, so I decided to go back to school.

I’m currently completing my masters in Sustainable Development with a focus on community development and social action while working at NeighborWorks America. It is the first time in my life I feel passionate because the work I do is meaningful. I want to live in a community that is happy, safe and healthy.

Opportunity Finance Network and Starbucks Collaborate to Create Jobs

Many people must have their cup of Joe to make it through the morning. Now they can contribute to a much needed cause while they are at it.

On November 1, almost 7,000 Starbucks stores across the country and the Opportunity Finance Network, a national coalition of more than 180 community development financial institutions (CDFIs), launched a fundraising initiative to kick start job creation in the U.S.

Through the initiative, Create Jobs for USA, Starbucks customers can make tax-deductible contributions to a fund to help local companies hire and retain workers.

One hundred percent of donations will go to the CDFIs to finance underserved community businesses—small businesses, microenterprises, nonprofit organizations, commercial real estate developers, and affordable housing developers. All of these community businesses help to create and sustain local jobs.

More than 90 members of the NeighborWorks network are CDFIs. Related NeighborWorks capital corporations NeighborWorks Capital and Community Housing Capital are also CDFIs.

One organization that is making a difference both in housing and business lending is Community Ventures Corp (CVC), a Lexington-based member of the NeighborWorks network for ten years. CVC is the largest micro-enterprise business lender in the Small Business Administration system, making business loans as small as $500.

Kevin Smith, president and CEO of CVC said, “As a CDFI serving entrepreneurs throughout Kentucky, Community Ventures Corporation applauds the Opportunity Finance Network and Starbucks for creating space where small actions can pay great returns.”

Jennifer Vasiloff, executive vice president for policy at the Opportunity Finance Network is excited about the potential.

“Create Jobs for USA has the potential to raise tens of millions of dollars and make more credit available all across the U.S,” Vasiloff said. “I never thought I would see a major corporation like Starbucks using its scale, the power of its brand, and its vast consumer marketing expertise to help people understand the concept of a CDFI. Millions will learn about these profit-making (but not profit-maximizing) nonprofit financial institutions that lend in underserved communities.”

The Starbucks Foundation is putting up $5 million to kick start the Create Jobs for USA campaign and is encouraging others to chip in. Customers who donate $5 or more will get a red, white and blue wristband with the message “Indivisible.”

President Obama Announces New Refinancing Plan to Help Struggling Homeowners

President Obama unveiled on Monday new rules to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages at today’s low-interest rates, no matter how far their property values have tumbled. The new changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) would apply to loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and to qualify, homeowners must be making on-time payments on their current mortgages.

The president announced the plan in Las Vegas, Nevada, one of the states hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis and where the unemployment rate is 13.4 percent, the highest in the nation. Federal officials hope that reducing monthly payments would free up cash for consumers to spend elsewhere, giving not a boost not only to the housing market, but to the overall economy as well.

In Kansas, NeighborWorks America’s Midwest regional director John Santner welcomed the potential boost for homeowners and housing. “Anything we can do to help solve the housing crisis would be a good thing,” he told the Kansas City Star.

HARP was originally unveiled in 2009, but it has fallen far short of expectations. It was designed to help up to 5 million people, but so far has reached only about 822,000. This new version would eliminate the previous limits which allowed only borrowers whose mortgages were no greater than 125 percent of the value of their homes to qualify. And it would remove certain fees and relieve banks of certain risks as part of the changes.

The program is not expected to increase costs to taxpayers. The Federal Housing Finance Agency is expected to publish final details in mid-November and borrowers can begin to enroll during the first quarter of next year.

Creating an Opportunity from All of the Empty Houses? An Affordable Housing Response by NeighborWorks America to the REO Crisis

by Thomas P. Deyo,
Deputy Director, Green, National Real Estate
and Community Stabilization
NeighborWorks America


This home was once foreclosed and abandoned.
NHS of New Haven rehabilitated it and sold it.



The growing number of empty houses in neighborhoods hit hard by foreclosures presents a huge challenge for residents still in these neighborhoods — and for the banks and government entities that now own many of these properties. Property values have plummeted for homeowners; homes have become shells of shelter having been stripped of their copper wire, plumbing or anything of value; communities have become health hazards or magnets for crime. (See The New York Times Foreclosures Empty Homes, and Criminals Fill Them Up.)

Many responses have been launched to address the situation.

An early public policy response to the crisis was the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) that offered support to local initiatives to stabilize high-foreclosure communities, mitigate impacts on neighborhoods and families, reduce blight, and offer affordable housing choices to residents. Many NeighborWorks organizations participated in NSP efforts and their initial efforts with local government entities and many other nonprofit organizations have shown successes and positive impact of their work in many communities across the country.

While various responses have been important efforts in establishing a foothold, gaining large scale control of properties and achieving significant gains for affordable housing have been difficult.

But now maybe an opportunity presents itself. The federal government is investigating ways to encourage private investment in significant holdings of “REO” or “real-estate owned” properties held by FHA and the GSEs, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) requested comment on strategies for disposition, including as rental properties. (see FHFA, Treasury, HUD Seek Input on Disposition of Real Estate Owned Properties.)

The opportunity is the potential of adding a substantial amount of affordable rental and for-sale houses for low and moderate income families at a time of desperate need for such housing in our nation. The risk is that a unique opportunity to produce public benefit of longer-term stabilization of fragile communities and increasing supply of affordable housing may be missed in favor of quick disposition without regard to community interests. We believe it’s time to seize the opportunity at hand.

Local nonprofit housing corporations and community residents should be central to any long-term viable solution. In partnership with FHA, the GSEs, and the private market, these groups can deliver on meeting the needs of communities for housing and stability.

The time is now to respond with a plan that takes the available resource that is impacting community strength and turn it into a community opportunity. In simple measure the plan calls for nonprofits to acquire, rehab, and maintain properties, rent at affordable rents to low- and moderate-income community residents, and when markets return sell at affordable prices to these same households and return to government a share of the proceeds to compensate for lower acquisition costs. (See NeighborWorks America comment letter.) This is not easy or simple but requires commitment and recognition that to make an opportunity requires taking some risk.