A new homeownership program for the East Side of St. Paul will help build family assets and strengthen the city, according to its creators. The initiative will serve the racially diverse Payne/Phalen and Dayton's Bluff neighborhoods, which are home to a variety of immigrant communities. It is designed to complement the State of Minnesota's Emerging Markets Homeownership Initiative, which seeks to increase homeownership rates for the state's minority and immigrant populations.
The East Side initiative will promote culturally specific homeownership programs, provide new and prospective homebuyers with pre-and post-purchase counseling, and create partnerships with employers to promote savings programs. It will also support home construction and rehabilitation, with the specific five-year goals of helping 750 families achieve or sustain homeownership and assisting in the production of 250 owner-occupied housing units.
The initiative is sponsored by Payne/Lake Community Partners, a program dedicated to rejuvenating three commercial corridors in the Twin Cities, and supported by nearly 20 funders and other partners, including the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, The McKnight Foundation and the City of St. Paul.
