Home Rehabilitation Loans (and technical assistance) with Karla Anderson, Homeowner Services Manager
Dorchester Bay Homeowner Services Program provides home improvement and deleading loans for unbankable homeowners. The focus is keeping low to moderate income homeowners in their home; by decreasing maintenance costs, avoiding foreclosure, rehabbing uninhabitable units, educating the homeowner in financial literacy and increasing energy conservation. In our eleven year program we have lent more than $1.5 million and rehabbed 239 units of housing.
Our loans allowed homeowners to make improvements with the greatest financial and environmental impact; by insulating and weather-proofing their homes; install energy efficient windows; insulate the walls and roof; add storm doors and wrap the water heater and pipes. Due to the rehabilitation of the homes; the homeowners heating and electrical bills drop between 40-60% through the winter months.
De-leading Loans: We help families delead their homes with the assistance of the Mass Housing De Leading Program; the loans are 0% deferred for 30 years, provided the client is within the state income guidelines.
Foreclosure Prevention and Intervention Program
Dorchester Bay EDC already had eleven years of experience delivering foreclosure prevention services informally, as part of our Homeowner Services Program. When the national surge in home foreclosures hit the Nation with the collapse of the sub-prime lending industry, and the decline in home values, Dorchester was one of the most impacted cities in the Massachusetts area for foreclosure; The clientele has accelerated with new client appointments at Dorchester Bay EDC. We expanded this program to include foreclosure prevention and intervention to address this crisis. We have serviced over 250 clients since the program inception. Our program staff are trained and certified in Foreclosure Intervention and Default Counseling through the NeighborWorks Training Institute. They also have many years of experience in the banking industry equipping them to assist clients in getting the best solutions to avoid foreclosure. Some solutions consist of loan remediation, financial literacy and credit repair. Dorchester Bay EDC receives State and Federal funding to support this program.
