Centerville launches home improvement loan program

Becomes fourth community to try to help home owners with improvement projects

Rosemary Clooney musical makes world debut in Dayton
Updated 3 min. ago
Man carrying child killed by train
Updated 6 min. ago
Man indicted for pornographic video of an infant
6:31 p.m.
Miami University puts regional director of admission, financial aid on paid leave
4:27 p.m.
Ohio home sales started year with gains
2:07 p.m.
> More headlines

By Jill Kelley, Staff Writer Updated 12:49 AM Tuesday, June 22, 2010

CENTERVILLE - Centerville introduced a program Monday, June 21, designed to make it easier for some residents to pay for home improvements.

The Centerville Home Enhancement Loan Program, which will launch in July, will be funded by $20,000 from a Community Development Block Grant and $5,000 from the city.

Centerville is the latest Dayton suburb — joining Kettering, Trotwood and Moraine — to help primarily lower-income residents improve or maintain the value of their homes.

“We want to avoid some of the systemic decline of our single-family residence housing that some of our first-ring suburb neighbors have witnessed over the last 10 to 20 years,” said Nathan Cahall, Centerville’s economic administrator.

C-HELP is for single-family, owner-occupied homes with appraised valuations of $150,000 or less. Homeowners also must have a gross household income at or below 80 percent of area median income.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Montgomery County median income for fiscal year 2010 is $61,700; 80 percent of that is $49,360.

Through C-HELP, the city will offer a 2 percent interest buy-down on home improvement loan rates to qualified applicants. That means the city will contribute cash to get the borrower a lower interest rate, much like paying points on a mortgage.

DayAir Credit Union, the city’s partner in the program, will reduce the interest rate by another 0.5 percent and waive closing costs and fees.

“I think there is little doubt that the banks have tightened their lending parameters,” Cahall said. “We are only making the loans more affordable for applicants that would already qualify under normal circumstances.”

Kettering’s Home Enhancement Loan Program, the template for C-HELP, also provides low-interest buy-downs in a partnership with DayAir. This program is for households with a total gross income of $142,250 or less.

A second Kettering program is for low-income residents, and offers low-interest and deferred loans.

Trotwood offers an Emergency Home Repair Assistance Program through Montgomery County, and Moraine has a Home Improvement Loan Program based on credit.

Cahall said he hopes C-HELP will push people to start their home improvement projects now.

“I’m hoping we’re priming the pump,” he said. “I’d love nothing more than to say six months from now that we are out of money on this project.”

Staff writers Marc Katz, Kris

McAllister and Jeremy Kelley contributed to this report.

Share this article