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PROGRAMS

Affordable Housing

Community vitality begins with quality affordable housing; that's why many of the core LISC programs have been created to help make communities stronger through housing.  Michigan LISC is there for the CDCs, supplying some funds, leveraging others, advocating new partnerships, building neighborhood capacity and providing local and national technical assistance to the CDCs as they grow to fulfill their community missions.

HOME OWNERSHIP PROGRAMS
In 1991, Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Services piloted a $1 million Home Ownership Program (HOP) to provide first time homeowners the opportunity to purchase and rehabilitate a substandard structure in one of three low-income neighborhoods.  The pilot program was designed to complete 30 homes by combining a first mortgage from a bank participation pool with a second mortgage funded from LISC and other partners to allow families 100% financing to purchase and rehabilitate their new home.                                                                     
Over 13 years later, this highly successful program has been expanded to seven neighborhoods, with over 500 homes being financed and rehabilitated.  The success of the Home Ownership Program in Kalamazoo has led to its replication in Muskegon and Grand Rapids, as well as other cities across the country.

HomeStart, a program launched in 1997 by Inner City Christian Federation, is a successful collaboration between ICCF, neighborhood associations, local lending institutions and LISC that provides affordable financing for the acquisition and rehabilitation of owner occupied residential properties in targeted neighborhoods.  The program is designed to attract first time homebuyers and provide the opportunity of home ownership to currrent renters in the area.

HomeStart clients receive a combination of two martgages, which allows them to finance the purchase price and the rehabilitation of their home.  HomeStart has been able to maintain an advantage over other mortgage products by providing a competitive interest rate and term, as well as the second mortgage financing for the property rehab and closing costs over and above what conventional lending sources will allow.  This enables clients to own a newly rehabilitated home at a monthly cost that is often times lower than the rent they were paying.

NEIGHBORHOOD PRESERVATION PROGRAM
The Michigan State Housing Development Authority's Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP) is a targeted strategy available throughout the state to communitites and non-profits that are working to strengthen their neighborhoods and improve the quality of life for residents.  Communities and non-profits may apply to designate a neighborhood of local strategic importance by showing how NPP funding will achieve results that address the housing and infrastructure needs of the target area.
  
In Lansing, LISC collaborated with Ferris Development to spearheaded a $5.5 million Neighborhood Preservation Program in Lansing's Eastern Neighbors/Oak Park Neighborhoods. 

Prior to NPP designation, a LISC AmeriCorps position was funded and added to the staff of Ferris Development to organize the two neighborhood groups and participate in the neighborhood planning process.  Throughout the NPP process, communication and coordination of the neighborhood groups was a critical part of the success.  LISC supported Ferris Development with predevelopment grants and construction loans and offered many hours of technical assistance in preparing Ferris Development to manage the fiduciary responsibilites associated with the NPP.

The Neighborhood Preservation Project has resulted in 55 units of rehabilitated or newly built homes in the Eastern Neighbors/Oak Park Neighborhoods.  NPP activities also included neighborhood beautification projects, an updated neighborhood community center and a neighborhood paint and fix-up project.  

In Flint, the Salem Housing Community Development Corporation is currently involved in two Neighborhood Preservation Programs; The Greater Shiloh Comunity NPP and the Kingswood NPP.

Recently, Salem Housing CDC took on the task of repairing and renovating three very visible and damaged houses at the corner of Welch and Garland, an intersection located within the Kingswood NPP target area.  Although the houses were almost beyond repair, the group believed that their loss would be devastating to the image of the community due to their location and high visibility. 

With the help of funds from LISC and the City of Flint, Salem Housing renovated the houses and sold all three to new homebuyers.  The rehabilitation of these houses triggered a much larger effort to clean up the neighborhood, including replanting and upgrading parks, removing garbage, developing a community plan and designing neighborhood signs.  The improvements set a tone of positive change and neighborhood pride for the residents as well as all who pass through the area.