Down Payment Assistance Loan Program Welcomes Families Home

The Hart-Tinsley family is settling into a new home in Santa Rosa's Junior College neighborhood and loving their newly achieved status as homeowners. Vincent and Michelle and their children Kyla and Quinton were the first of eight Santa Rosa families to become first-time homeowners with help from the City's Down Payment Assistance Loan Program (DPAL).

"It makes us feel so much more secure and more a part of our community," said Michelle Hart-Tinsley. "As homeowners, we know our payment is going to stay the same, versus being renters with the rent always going up each year, which makes it really hard to plan for the future."

Michelle, who is a real estate agent, and Vincent, who works in civil engineering, moved to Santa Rosa in 2002 as college students earning about $30,000 a year combined. As they built their careers, they started making more money but still couldn't get ahead enough on bills to save for a down payment on a home.

"The City's DPAL program, combined with Burbank Housing's HOME program, made all the difference for us," said Michelle. "The loan funding from these two programs allowed us to buy a home in a neighborhood we love! Now the kids are holding us to a promise we made, which was that once we owned our own house, we could get a dog...so soon we'll have a new family member too!"

The City's Down Payment Assistance Loan Program, which launched about a year ago and is closed to new applications, has provided nearly $500,000 in 3-percent interest, interest-deferred loans towards the down payment on a first-time home, helping low-to-moderate income families achieve the dream of homeownership.

Visit SRCity.org/DPAL for more information about the DPAL program.