CHUBBUCK, Idaho–A new partnership between Idaho Central Credit Union and a local non-profit is underway and aimed at making homeownership become a reality for more people.
LEAP Housing and ICCU have formed a $5 million partnership to create affordable workforce homeownership solutions for residents in Mountain Home at the Falcons Landing community, according to the Idaho Business Review.
The model being used is one of deed-restricted housing on a community land trust, LEAP CEO Bart Cochran. It ensures housing payments match local incomes on a permanent and legal basis, the Review rported.
“By joining hands in this pilot program with ICCU, we hope we are creating a scalable homeownership model that can help Idaho’s real estate ecosystem adapt to and overcome market conditions in a repeatable way,” Cochran told the Idaho Business Review.
‘Very Appreciative’
The first qualifying couple to benefit from this partnership is Mike and Wanda Thwait, retirees who are purchasing one of the new homes built in Falcons Landing, the report stated.
“We are very appreciative of this opportunity,” Wanda Thwait told the publication. “We are both on Social Security because we became sick at the same time and had to stop working.”
Thwait retired from a career in corrections, having been a corrections officer, a parole officer and a trucker. Her husband is a retired trucker as well and a veteran of the U.S. Army.
60 Units Already Built
According to LEAP Housing, the Falcons Landing community is a 136-unit, master-planned development that has both rental housing and homeownership opportunities. Sixty of the rental units are built and 30 are under construction, while eight of the homeownership units have been sold, the Review reported.
“We believe in doing dream loans for dream homes by assisting with financial empowerment to create opportunities,” Ed Tierney, chief lending officer for ICCU, told the publication.
