MSHDA Key To Own | Affordable Housing by MSHDA
https://www.michigan.gov/mshda/rental...
[TRANSCRIPT] When I found it, it was in pretty rough shape, but it had good bones and it was in an area I wanted to be. It was handicap accessible, which I have a few issues that I needed that.
We were asked to come down and write a brand new program for MSHDA and it didn't have a name, but we knew that it was with the Housing Choice Voucher, which a lot of people will know as Section Eight. And it allows the participant to go from a rental unit to purchasing a home and instead of MSHDA paying for the rent, we pay a portion of their mortgage, if not all of their mortgage.
I had been homeless in the street. I had been to the shelter, but I made it here.
You're renting. You want to go to homeownership? Step one is to call MSHDA. Get a hold of us, we get you out an application, we get you enrolled in the program. You have to go to Homebuyer Education Counseling, and you have to go to Financial Management Counseling so we can get all of that in order and educate you on the process of just being a good homeowner and what it takes to buy a house.
Somebody during them classes, somebody that worked for MSHDA told me about the Key to Own.
But coming up with a name was probably the hardest thing. Toying around with the idea of keys and we didn't know what to do with that, but we envisioned us handing the key to somebody and telling them that they own their house. And in most cases they're the first ones in their entire family to own a house.
We preach three big things. All three credit scores over 640 at least 1300 dollars saved in the bank and all credit cards, old bills, paid off and all bills paid on time for one year. But we get them through to the lender. They get qualified just like anybody would. We want to give them everything we can before they move in because shifting from rental to homeownership is life changing, but it's also one of the most stressful things that they'll probably do in their life. And MSHDA has programs that we are able to marry with this. So we bring in some of the other programs and it makes sense. If MSDHA is using the federal HUD dollars to pay for their mortgage, then we can come in and we have the house. It's in everybody's best interest to keep the house up.
MSHDA was a very big part of that. They've been wonderful to me. And if I didn't understand something, I called them and they would always answer.
We foresee going in this program are going to have to work really hard to get there, that we have built in every bell and whistle that we can think of to make them not only successful, but also to reward them for their hard work.
You never give up. You feel like it. You feel beaten some days, but you don't give up.