June is National Homeownership Month 2003, but beyond the national celebrations it's a good time to recognize the critical role HUD's field offices play in helping low- and moderate-income families buy their own homes. In Arizona, the Tucson HUD office is a good example of what HUD can do to make homeownership a reality for families who might not even dared to dream of owning a home.

For too long, the Section 8 Homeownership Program - which enables low-income families to use their rental assistance to buy a home - was little known in southern Arizona. Staff working with the program saw an important need to provide accurate, complete, and up-to-date information on the tremendous potential of Section 8 Homeownership to Arizona communities. Realizing that not one Arizona housing authority was implementing the program, one staffer, Alejandro Becerra, came up with a plan to help these local agencies overcome their reluctance to this new homeownership idea.

Through personal presentations to the housing authorities and a clearly written, non-bureaucratic guide to Section 8 Homeownership (prepared by Becerra), Tucson HUD specifically addressed the tremendous benefits of the program and strongly encouraged housing authorities to begin implementing it. Often to their initial surprise, local housing authorities learned that many HUD-supported tenants could become successful homeowners with the help of HUD's Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers.

The Housing Choice Voucher Guide available to read, download, and revise for further use by other HUD offices to reflect the use of Section 8 Homeownership Vouchers in their state) can be distributed by email, on a local website, or in a hard copy for presentations. To promote Section 8 Homeownership, it stresses the benefits to local housing authorities and tenants:

• It can expand housing opportunities of Section 8 voucher holders beyond the rental market by allowing them to use their assistance to purchase their own homes. This is especially true in "hot" rental markets where tenants have difficulty paying increasing high rents - but can afford a monthly mortgage - as well as in areas where few landlords participate in the Section 8 program.



• It makes homeownership part of a "package" that will benefit the tenant and his or her family for years and decades to come by encouraging the use of Section 8 vouchers in tandem with self-sufficiency, housing and financial counseling, and homeownership programs - such as HUD's Family Self-Sufficiency Program, Individual Development Accounts, and local First-Time Homeownership Programs (usually supported by CDBG and HOME funds).



• It can be successful throughout the nation because many local private, public, faith-based and non-profit groups are eager to establish partnerships that support low-income homeownership.

The Tucson HUD offices' efforts have been rewarded. Housing authorities in Yuma and Mesa have begun to implement the program. Both communities are real-life demonstrations that the program can work with - and without - supplemental closing costs and downpayment assistance from other HUD partners.

On September 27, 2002, the city of Yuma Housing Authority closed on the first HUD Section 8 Homeownership loan in Arizona. Ms Martha Bouzanquet, the first person to become a homeowner in the state of Arizona under the Section 8 Homeownership Program is a Hispanic female head of household, currently working as an account clerk and studying to acquire a college degree in criminal justice.

Ms. Bouzanquet's Section 8 Homeownership voucher assistance is being leveraged through a $10,000 IDEA grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) of San Francisco (which is sponsored locally by the National Bank of Arizona). These IDEA grants, are now available up to $15,000, and can match up to $3 for every dollar saved by the homebuyer, are used to complement the savings of FSS participants in covering down payment or closing costs.

Ms. Bouzanquet was further assisted through a $7,750 Rural Home Purchase Assistance Program (RHAP) deferrable loan from the Arizona Department of Housing to cover down payment and closing costs. Ms. Bouzanquet also had $3,334 in savings she had accumulated as a HUD Family Self-Sufficiency Program participant. Bank One, with Fannie Mae as a secondary lender, is providing her Section 8 Homeownership mortgage loan.

Ms. Bouzanquet's total monthly mortgage payment is $579; she will be making a payment of $392 and the voucher payment ($187) will cover the remaining amount. As a renter, her own rental contribution was $386 a month. For six dollars more a month, Ms. Bouzanquet is now living proudly in her own new home.

Earlier in 2003, the Housing Department of the County of Yuma also made its first Section 8 Homeownership Loan. Proving the program's flexibility, the new low-income homeowner in this situation is Rosalva Rodriguez, a former Section 8 rental voucher recipient and a HUD Family Self Sufficiency Program (FSS) participant. She moved into a newly constructed home in San Luis, Arizona - but without needing any supplementary assistance other than her own FSS savings.

The Housing Choice Voucher Guide can be used by any HUD office, state or local agency, or community/faith-based organization interested in promoting low-income homeownership - during National Homeownership Month and for the months and years beyond!