August 30, 2001

Urban League, Fannie Mae

Those who haven't been able to afford homes in Seattle are among people in six cities targeted by a new National Urban League program to provide them with counseling and loans with reduced down payments.

The Urban League and Fannie Mae pulled the Homeownership Development Project together along with Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp., JP Morgan Chase and various area political leaders such as U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash.

The Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle will hold six home-buyer workshops in the coming 12 months that will include credit, budgeting and debt-reduction counseling, and other details about overcoming barriers to home ownership.

Chase has committed to offer low-down-payment mortgages and other affordable loan programs designed to help minority buyers, first-time buyers and those with alternative income sources and credit histories, according to the league.

Chase also committed to lowering closing costs and offering "more-flexible qualifying terms."

Fannie Mae, which buys qualified mortgages from banks as a means of encouraging home ownership, committed to buy up to $50 million in mortgages produced by the program in the course of five years. "Fannie Mae will also provide the National Urban League and its participating affiliates with financial and technical support as they reach out to these under-served communities," Fannie Mae said.

The other targeted metropolitan areas are: Houston; Rochester, N.Y.; San Diego; Stamford, Conn.; and Tucson, Ariz.

"As housing prices escalate in the Seattle area, it will take ambitious efforts like (this program) to ensure that minority and other under-served families are not priced out of the housing market," McDermott said in a statement from Fannie Mae.

"Homeownership helps families become stakeholders in their communities and builds wealth for future generations, said James Kelly, president and CEO of the Seattle league.

The organizations didn't provide the schedule for the workshops. For information, call A. Linda Taylor at (205) 461-3792, ext. 3029.