Category: DSHA (HDF)

Diamond State CLT’s First Sussex Homes

In June 2017, Charlena Evans became a Diamond State CLT home owner in Ingram Village.

Congratulations to the first three families to become  home owners and Diamond State CLT members in Sussex County!

  1. Dominic Mancuso and David Marsh recently made settlement on our first DSCLT home in Sussex County!
  2. Robert and Carol Van Sciver became the second Diamond State CLT Homeowners in Sussex County shortly thereafter.
  3. And Charlena Evans purchased the third home built by Diamond State CLT in Sussex County at Ingram Village.
Thank You!

It is the fulfillment of a long process for Diamond State CLT to have begun to create permanently affordable homes in Sussex County.

Thanks go to a number of people and organizations:

  • Shannon Carmean Burton, Esq.
  • Delaware State Housing Authority & the Governor’s Council on Housing
  • Deutsche Bank Trust Company
  • Development Committee of the DSCLT Board
  • Discover Bank
  • Meridian Mortgages
  • Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh
  • NCALL Homeownership Programs & Loan Fund
  • Patrick Ryan, AIA
  • Sussex County Council
  • TD Bank
  • The Town of Ellendale
  • University of Delaware Agricultural Extension
  • U&I Builders
  • USDA Rural Development
  • Wakefield Associates
  • WSFS Bank

 

DSHA Funds Rodney Village Homes

Kent County Commissioner Eric Buckson was instrumental in bringing the NSP program to Kent County.

The Housing Development Fund (HDF) of the Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) provided additional monies to assist DSCLT homebuyers purchasing homes in Rodney Village.

So far DSCLT has acquired nine homes and rehabilitated six, making them permanently affordable. We are working toward completing at least ten homes in the community.

HDF funding will help make the remaining Rodney Village homes affordable to low-income first-time homebuyers.

Kent County Neighborhood Revitalization Program

The work in Rodney Village has been made possible by Kent County Levy Court which works closely with DSCLT to reinvest program income from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) in Rodney Village.

Other Funders

Additional funds were provided by the Longwood Foundation, Discover Bank, NCALL Loan Fund, Deutsche Bank, the Delaware Community Foundation, and the Laffey-McHugh Foundation.

Rodney Village

Applicants like this diverse, engaged community, which is close to parks, within walking distance of retail, and is in a good school district.

Most of our home buyers find their monthly mortgage payments to be lower than what they were previously paying in rent.

 

Coming to Ellendale – New CLT Homes

Ingram front
The front view of our Ingram Village home

Thanks to recent funding awards from Federal Home Bank of Pittsburgh (FHLB) and the Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA), Diamond State CLT will be building three new homes in the Ingram Village development in the Town of Ellendale.The FHLB funds were made possible in partnership with member bank, WSFS Bank.

The Board of Directors of Diamond State CLT had previously dedicated funds to home ownership opportunities in Sussex County, where there is a significant need for affordable housing.

Sussex County has the largest housing affordability gap in the state for a family at 50% of AMI – now at $168,240 for the median home price of $265,000 in 2015 (source: DHC, Who Can Afford to Live in Delaware? 2015).

Sussex is also a very difficult housing environment for renters. Of the 50 states, Delaware has the sixth highest nonmetro area housing wage for a two-bedroom unit at $18.98. There is a significant portion of the rental population that experience housing cost burdens exceeding 30% of their income.

The Delaware Housing Needs Assessment 2015 – 2020 of Delaware State Housing Authority provides data related to housing need in the sub-market that contains Ellendale.

It found a need for homes for at least 710 very low income (≤50% of area median income) households and 800 low income (51 to 80% of area median income) home owners. It also indicated that there are at least 655 cost burdened renters (under 80% AMI) in the area from Milford to Georgetown.

Look for our new homes in mid-year.

For more information, contact Jo Ann Zorb, Home Ownership Manager.