The Baxter family of Fort Collins, Colorado - Bill, D'Ann and their three children, Brady, Brandon and Leah - only dreamed about buying a home until they met the homeownership coordinator at the local housing authority who helped them turn those dreams into reality.

D'Ann Baxter tells audience about her dream to buy a home as Fort Collins Mayor Ray Martinez looks on. "This family just needed a little help to realize their dream," said John Carson, HUD regional director at the house warming. The Baxter's home was the first to close since FCHA joined in the homeownership voucher program.

The Baxters join with their housing partners in the back yard of their new home. (From left to right, top row) Bill Baxter, D'Ann Baxter, FCHA Homeownership Coordinator Emily Bullard, Lois Croissant of Bank One, and Realtor Shelly Hill. Shown in the bottom row are Brady, Brandon, and Leah Baxter. Bill is a shift manager in the technical support department of a local Internet company; D'Ann is a long-time hairdresser; and Brady, Brandon and Leah are making new friends in the neighborhood and are looking forward to starting school.

Emily Bullard, from the Fort Collins Housing Authority, introduced the Baxters to the homeownership voucher program that allows HUD rental assistance to be used for a home purchase. The FCHA had recently decided to join the ranks of other housing authorities that have elected to offer this program.

Bill and D'Ann had grown up in the small, rural town of Lamar, located in southeastern Colorado, and had moved to Fort Collins soon after they were married so that Bill could pursue a degree in computer information systems. For a year the young couple lived in married student housing, and then were accepted into the housing authority's affordable housing program where they lived in transitional housing for another 12 months.

Their move to homeowners began in earnest last January when they began working with the FCHA. They enrolled in a first-time homebuyer's class at Neighbor-to-Neighbor, a local HUD-approved housing counseling agency, attended credit counseling classes with Consumer Credit Counseling, and saved their money. With the help of Shelly Hill, a local Realtor, the Baxters received down payment and closing cost assistance from Funding Partners, a local non-profit and a home loan from Bank One.

"Our home was built in 1983 and the previous owner took good care of it," Bill said. "We were able to move right in and will only be making minor cosmetic changes. That's great because we're still on a pretty tight budget."

Added D'Ann: "It's wonderful to have more room and not continually be bumping into each other. The kids each have their own rooms, which was right at the top of our wish list when we were house hunting. And Max, our dog, thinks he rules this yard. We want to give our kids the stability we had when we were growing up. We plan to be very happy here for a very long time."