Celebrating Homeownership Center Successes in 2023

In a year when the housing market has continued to be tumultuous, we’re proud to have helped local families achieve the dream of homeownership this year. 

Through our Homeownership Center, we helped 70 homebuyers with the use of available downpayment assistance programs from the City of Raleigh Homebuyer Assistance program, Wake County Affordable Homeownership Program, North Carolina Housing Finance Agency Downpayment Assistance programs, and the DHIC downpayment assistance program. 

DHIC Vice President of Homeownership Center Services, Sheila Porter, says, “After helping 37 homebuyers in 2022, we weren’t sure how many clients would become successful homebuyers this year in the current market conditions. However, thanks to these downpayment assistance programs from our community partners, first-time homebuyers were able to layer multiple forms of assistance to make the dream of homeownership a reality.”

Five of these home purchases were townhomes at Washington Terrace, which is the fourth phase of the redevelopment of Washington Terrace.

All of these buyers had to be under 80% of the area median income (AMI) to qualify for these funds, and it was thanks to the hard work of our entire Homeownership Center staff and critical local partners that they learned about these opportunities available to them. 

“All of these downpayment assistance programs are mentioned in our Bringing Home the Dream workshop as well as individual counseling sessions,” Sheila explains. “The Homeownership Center staff not only explains the nature of these programs to our participants, but the staff also helps them understand how to apply.” 

From there, the workshop participants work with our valued lender, Realtor®, insurance, and inspector partners as they complete their journey to homeownership. 

Sheila says, “As we approach the end of the year, it’s important to acknowledge the hard work of not only our Homeownership Center staff but also these partners. Without them, we wouldn’t have had the success of helping 70 families purchase their first homes in 2023.”