In 2003, Octavia Alexander of Kannapolis, NC, enrolled in a housing counseling program with Prosperity Unlimited, a New Homes Loan Pool and Individual Development Account Loan Pool partner of the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency (NCHFA). The New Homes and Individual Development Account (IDA) loan pools use HOME funds to provide gap financing for low-income home buyers. Octavia enrolled in the IDA program to begin saving for home ownership and took classes in financial literacy.
Her plans were derailed later that year when the factory she worked at closed and she lost her job of 24 years. She responded by taking classes at the local community college and ultimately getting a job at a credit union. Her journey to home ownership was further delayed by a divorce that left her the single mother of three children. She didn’t give up but continued to invest in her IDA account, and seven years after she started to save, she was able to start looking for a home.
Her housing counselor steered her to a new neighborhood in which the developer had been foreclosed upon. She combined her IDA savings with gap financing from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program, offered through NCHFA, to purchase a house that provided more room than what she otherwise may have been able to afford.
The additional room was critical for Octavia, as one of her grandchildren is living with cerebral palsy. Her daughter’s small home is unable to accommodate the equipment that he needs. Octavia’s new home provides the necessary room and her grandson frequently stays at her home, as do her other grandchildren.
“I can’t get rid of them,” Octavia says. For her, this home means she is able to help her children and grandchildren, always having a place for them. “Being able to work through this program has been a blessing from God.”
To learn more about North Carolina Housing Finance Agency please visit their website.
For information on the HOME Program, see our advocacy page.
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