Vol.25, No. 05	Oct. 1, 1999

Pilot Program Promotes Home ownership for CU Employees

Columbia will make home ownership in upper Manhattan a possibility for approximately 30 employees through a new pilot program, the Columbia Housing Assistance Program, it has been announced by Colleen Crooker, vice president for Human Resources.

The new initiative, a collaborative effort between the University and the country's largest mortgage provider, Fannie Mae, will support the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone's efforts to promote home ownership in upper Manhattan.

Through the pilot program known as CHAP, a non-interest bearing, forgivable loan will be available to qualified Columbia employees. This includes all faculty, officers and support staff who have worked full-time at the University for a minimum of two years. Qualified employees may receive a non-interest bearing loan of up to $15,000. All loans are forgiven at the rate of 20 percent per year over a period of five years of continued employment.

Properties—including one- to four-family brownstones, condominium units, apartments or cooperatives—must be located within the boundaries of the Empowerment Zone, which extends from 110th Street to Washington Heights and includes much of Central and West Harlem. Employees purchasing a home in the area directly east of Morningside Park, between Morningside and Park Avenues and from 110th to 125th Streets—an area where a large number of residences are being built or renovated by community development corporations—will receive the maximum benefit. Those purchasing new or rehabilitated properties in that area will receive an additional $5,000 grant. Loan funds will assist Columbia home buyers in increasing their down payment, paying closing costs, buying down their interest rate, moving or paying other housing-related costs.

"Since its inception in 1993, Columbia has worked to support the efforts of the Empowerment Zone. We believe that this program, the first of its kind to be offered by an institution within the Zone, will benefit both our employees and our community," said Emily Lloyd, executive vice president for administration.

According to Empowerment Zone officials, 60 percent of the nation's citizens are home owners yet in New York City only 35 percent of the population own their own home. In the Empowerment Zone home ownership is at a low 6 percent. However, concentrated development in the area is quickly opening up the potential for home-ownership where little existed before. In fact 2,000 units were brought online since last year.

"Clearly, home ownership in the communities of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone is on the increase," said Terry C. Lane, president & CEO of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation. "The Columbia Housing Assistance Program is a welcome addition to our ongoing efforts to make home ownership a reality for many of the residents in the Empowerment Zone."

"We are delighted with the response to date. Already we have received close to 100 inquiries to the program and several have indicated an interest in identifying a property or a lender, essentially moving to the next step in the process," Crooker said.

Columbia is one among three Ivies offering housing assistance benefits to employees. Similar projects exist at University of Pennsylvania and Yale.

"We are very pleased to work in partnership with Columbia University and the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone to facilitate the development and launch of this important community development program," said Naomi Bayer, director of Fannie Mae New York Partnership Office. " Columbia's generous Employer-Assisted Housing program will remove many of the most common barriers to homeownership and assist its employees gain access to the lowest cost mortgage financing available."