The bank raises the maximum grant amount of $22,000
The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco (FHLBank San Francisco) has announced the investment of $9.3 million to fund matching grants for first-time homebuyers.
The bank has allocated $8.9 million to its 2019 Workforce Initiative Subsidy for Homeownership (WISH) program and $400,000 for its 2019 Individual Development and Empowerment Account (IDEA) program.
According to FHLBank, WISH grants are focused on working families and individuals who are ready to transition from renting to owning and can be paired with local, state, and federal mortgage loan programs such as Fannie Mae HomeReady and FHA-insured mortgages. Meanwhile, IDEA grants aid homebuyers who have been either saving up for their first home through an Individual Development Account, participating in their local housing authority’s Family Self-Sufficiency homeownership program or a non-profit’s lease-to-own program.
Both grants are delivered to eligible homebuyers through FHLBank’s member financial institutions, using funds reserved each year from the bank’s annual Affordable Housing Program contribution. The bank said 39 FHLBank San Francisco members would help lower-income homebuyers in states where bank members do business, including Arizona, California, and Nevada.
The bank raised the maximum grant amount from $15,000 to $22,000 this year and now offers a 4-to-1 match to eligible homebuyers, inching up from 3-to-1 in the past years. It enabled lower-income households in high-cost areas in San Francisco to use the matching grants for down payment or closing costs.
“Since 2000, the bank has helped more than 7,400 families, and individuals realize the dream of owning a home by funding nearly $100 million in WISH and IDEA matching grants,” said Marietta Núñez, senior vice president and community investment officer at FHLBank San Francisco. “In our region, where income disparity just keeps growing, these grants play a crucial role in helping lower-income homebuyers put down roots in the community and build wealth through homeownership, which is the heart of the bank’s mission.”
