Buy a home, fix your leaky roof with new Beltline program

People making less than $36,000 a year can qualify for downpayment assistance, home repairs

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When Atlanta Beltline officials in 2010 purchased a failed loft project in Reynoldstown and converted most of the units to affordable housing, some people scratched their heads over how they defined “affordable.” Households earning just under $70,000 were eligible for the subsidized units.

Now Beltline officials are aiming to give people making half that annual salary the same opportunity. And they are making cash available to residents, especially those who live along the under-construction Westside Trail in southwest Atlanta, to make needed home repairs. Here are all the details.

Both programs come with a long list of eligibility requirements and fine print. They have also attracted interest since being announced on March 2. The program is a partnership between the Beltline and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta.

Down payment assistance is available up to $45,000 or 20 percent of the home purchase price. Applicants must purchase a home within a half-mile of the Beltline and earn 80 percent or less of the area median income, among other requirements. That equates to roughly $36,080 for a single-person household and $41,280 for a two-person household.

The loans are progressively forgiven after five years of home occupancy but must be repaid if the house is sold, rented out, or refinanced.

“We really don’t see these as investment properties for someone to buy and then rent out,” says James Alexander, the Beltline’s housing and economic development manager. “We see these as a way to stabilize neighborhoods.”

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Occupants of neighborhoods within one-half mile of the Beltline’s Westside Trail get first dibs on the home repair funding. After that, people who live in the project’s planning area can compete for the cash. The deadline to submit applications is April 13.

Alexander says the rehab program is designed so “some residents who are adjacent or near the Westside trial have the ability to stay in their homes if there are repairs that need to be made that prevent that homeowner from being safe, warm, and day.”

He added: “Is this for a kitchen redo a la HGTV? That is not what this is for. It could be used to prevent the roof from leaking, repair plumbing” and adding insulation, among other fixes.

The new programs could help people making a range of incomes live along the project — a goal that’s less glamorous than sleek streetcars and bike trails but just as important to the Beltline’s and city’s long-term success. According to Alexander, around 10 applications have been filed to request assistance buying a home. He says than 30 homeowners have applied to receive rehab and repair assistance on their homes.

More than 80 people, some of whom expressed frustration that they made slightly too much to qualify for the assistance, attended a informational meeting last week at the Westside Works job-training facility near Vine City.

Cash for the programs came from the Beltline TAD’s tax increment, the FHLBA, and last year’s sale of a strip of land ABI owned between the Eastside Trail and the Masquerade.

Officials anticipate closing approximately 25 deals — that includes downpayment assistance and the owner-occupied rehab and repair program — in the program’s first year. If funding is made available for the following year, they expect that number to grow. More info can be found at atlantabeltlinehomes.com.