“We share these stories, and are reminded just how profound it is to be a part CEF. We share them with gratitude for the whole wide CEF family—Members, Advocates, supporters, and friends. Thank you for reading, writing, and living this story with us!”
Archive | Durham
CEF First-Time Homebuyers!
CEF matched savings accounts now support Members in reaching goals all along the continuum from homelessness to homeownership. We launched a new program in 2016 to support first-time homebuyers with Reinvestment Partners and the Duke Homebuyers Club.
Paige was one of the first 5 CEF Members to successfully purchase their own home during the first year of this collaborative program!
Paige worked incredibly hard and with amazing focus to reach her goal in just ten months. She worked extra jobs in addition to her full-time job at Duke. She participated in CEF’s Financial Coaching, meeting regularly with Donna Carrington (CEF’s Housing Stabilization Specialist) and sharing, “Donna was a great motivator and kept me on track with my financial goals.” Paige was able to pay off debts and improve her credit score, which qualified her for an affordable mortgage. Meanwhile, she successfully saved for her down payment and closing costs, receiving a dollar-for-dollar match from CEF!
Paige is proud to be a homeowner. One of the best parts? Her mortgage payment is actually cheaper than her rent payments were, and she is building an asset for the long term.
CEF is supporting this pilot program for first-time homebuyers in Durham in collaboration with Reinvestment Partners, the Duke Homebuyers Club, and the Duke University Office of Durham & Regional Affairs. The Homebuyers Club partnership brings together incredible resources for the participants, including homebuyer education and credit assessment through Reinvestment Partners, and a wide array of community experts through Duke’s partnerships, including attorneys, appraisers, and credit unions.
Meanwhile, CEF provides our one-on-one financial coaching so that participants like Paige can take action steps in building credit, budgeting to reach their goals, and accessing resources. In just the first year of this pilot collaboration, we have seen amazing results.
Since the Homebuyers Savings program began, results from April 2016 – April 2017 include:
- Pilot participants have built $16,864 in savings towards the purchase of their first homes.
- 5 of the first 9 members have already bought their homes, with the remaining participants well on their way towards achieving their goal within the 18-month pilot period!
- Members are saving on average $144 each per month
- 67 one-on-one coaching sessions completed with members in 1 year
- 85% of program participants are women
- 100% of program participants are people of color
- Thus far, mortgage payments for these homebuyers are less expensive than their monthly rent payments were previously.
When Gentrification Arrives At Your Door
John Miller and Advocate Audrey Boyles celebrate a successful moving day in 2012.
The following is a guest post by Durham resident and CEF Member, John Miller, who is an avid writer and advocate at www.blindtravel.net/ , where this post was originally published.
When Gentrification Arrives At Your Door
Or renovation. Rapid re-creation of a whole neighborhood. Call it what you want, the effects are the same.
We’ve all read the stories. Person, hard working, toward the lower end of the economic ladder, suddenly finds him or herself homeless. As we read this, we sit back and wonder to ourselves how this could have happened so quickly. Well I would venture to say that our current rental structure can contribute.
I have resided in my current large community here just northwest of downtown Durham for over four years. Each year, the costs have increased by about 20 to 30 dollars. Not too bad, right?
Except this year, they’re gonna hit me with the haymaker! They have been engaged in a steady process to re-design all of these older units to make them trendier, and probably more amenable to modern appliances. And let’s call it what it is, more expensive.
I get it. Located close to two medical facilities, Duke Hospital and the VA Medical Center, as well as that major university within easy walking distance, there is lots of money to be made in this area. And as guardians of the community (however all that internal stuff works), they have a responsibility to get that money flowing into their coffers if at all possible.
But what are those of us who are barely hanging on supposed to do? It’s a question I probably ask at least once a year, and every year it becomes demonstrably worse. Affordable housing is simply disappearing, and especially from places that need it the most for instance near said medical facilities and along transit lines. An example of this need? I have (had? well I think she’s still here somehow) a neighbor who moved into her apartment and lived there for 25 years so that she could have easy access to Duke Hospital in the event of somewhat regular heart emergencies. My guess is she has some kind of special dispensation that will allow her to remain there for as long as she pleases.
Certainly other than that though, I have noticed that this place has become a lot quieter. Most folks started packing up and moving out a good while ago, and my guess is it will be a while before the upper incomers start trickling in, once all of the reconstruction work has been completed.
As for me, this is not a tremendous deal. This is because I would have been moving on by January anyway, so that I can begin life as a married man. To transfer for the six or seven-month gap between now and then (I must depart by June 24th,) I have to pay these fine folks an additional $330 a month. That is a sixty (60!) percent increase, and would mean I would be living a lot closer to significant disaster due to any unexpected occurrence than I wish to experience. It seems silly though to relocate to some entirely unfamiliar venue for such a short period, and even if I decide to do that I am not sure where that would be as most of Durham, the Bull City’s prices have crept in that general direction. In any event, I have a couple of weeks to figure this out, on top of possible needs for other employment, grad school, and other general living interests. Chaotic, to say the least. But, it’ll all work out somehow because it has to. Wish me well.
Read the update to John’s apartment situation on his blog in his latest post: http://www.blindtravel.net/on-rites-of-passage-20-years-since-high-school-and-apartment-follow-up/
CEF Spring Celebrations 2017
Thanks for coming to the Party on April 13th!
