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PROGRAM HISTORY &
SCOPE OF SERVICES
Keystone Challenge Fund is a non-profit
corporation established in 1991 with a primary purpose to operate for the
advancement of affordable housing. Our mission is to provide homebuyer
education and affordable financing to low and moderate income homebuyers.
Keystone has directly assisted 2,681 low and moderate income households with
permanent financing and/or down payment and closing cost assistance for an
affordable home purchase, as of December 31, 2006.
Keystone provides affordable housing program administration for Polk County,
the City of Lakeland, and the City of Winter Haven. Keystone has experience
in administering down payment and closing cost assistance through the State
Housing Initiative Partnership Program (SHIP) and the federal HOME program.
Keystone has worked in partnership with Polk County since December 1993 and
provided assistance to 1,839 homebuyers through Polk County programs since
that time. Keystone also has assisted 709 homebuyers in the City of Lakeland
since 1991 and 133 in Winter Haven since 1994. A total of $166.5 million has
been loaned to assisted homebuyers by private lenders.
Polk County has awarded Keystone SHIP funds for down payment/ closing cost
assistance in the amount of $15+ million since 1995.
Keystone has established a consortium of lenders who provide affordable
first mortgage financing to low income home buyers. Lenders have agreed to the waiver of normal
lender origination fees to assisted clients, and may not require private
mortgage insurance.
In 1996, Keystone initiated our Gap program in order to expand assistance to
a broader segment of the low and moderate-income community in Polk County.
We process down payment and closing cost assistance requests for low and
moderate income households who have already obtained first mortgage
financing through a conventional, bond program, or FHA-insured program.
Keystone presently maintains a database of 363 lenders eligible to
participate in this program and 90% of clients assisted last year were
served through the Gap program. If you are a
lender
interested in participating, click here.
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Minority households represent 45% of the clients served.
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Single head of
households comprise 36% of the clients assisted.
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41% of our clients have purchased a newly constructed home.
Keystone targets clients that are traditionally excluded from directly
accessing private sector financing opportunities due to:
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Low or moderate income
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Insufficient resources to save for a down payment
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Imperfect credit histories
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Lack of understanding of the home buying process
Our program has been designed to remove these obstacles to home ownership
and begins with a Homebuyer Education Class.
Households who attend a
Homebuyer Education Class are eligible to apply for
assistance with Keystone. Classes are offered regularly and average annual
participation is 750 - 1,110.
Keystone has been designated a Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO)
by Polk County and the City of Lakeland. We have successfully developed a
35-unit subdivision in Lakeland, Country Lane Estates, and a 46-unit
subdivision, Azalea Oaks, located in Bartow.
Keystone has received $2.1 million in CHDO development funds through Polk
County since 1997. This money has been leveraged to construct 143 new homes
for subsequent sale to low income homebuyers.
CHDO development funds have also been received through the City of Lakeland
in the amount of $778,000 and 31 projects have been completed or initiated
to date.
To see what properties are currently
available, click here.
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