Owning a home is part of the American dream. MPB’s Alexandra Watts reports on how a financial organization is working to increase homeownership access in the Mississippi Delta.
Teachers, emergency workers, veterans and other service oriented professions can now get $10,000 for down payment on a home in the MS Delta.
Hope Enterprise Corporation is working to help people become homeowners through the NeighborhoodLIFT program.
Bill Bynum is the CEO of Hope Credit Union and said owning a home makes residents proud investors in their communities.
“The Delta is a great place, but unfortunately people have limited resources," he said. "So we work with Wells Fargo and Neighborworks America to bring $2.75 million to Delta and communities across the Delta to provide down payment assistance.”
The program hopes increased homeownership leads to stronger local economies. Greenville’s mayor Errick D. Simmons said those in the Delta are working to make the region better, one home at a time.
“If everyone could be homeowners, we’ll be fairing better," he said. "We know in Greenville, Mississippi, our poverty rate is 38.6 percent, but how do you disrupt that cycle of poverty? You disrupt the cycle of poverty by creating homeowners.”
Other residents in the Delta are eligible for a $7,500 down payment for homeownership.
