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LIFESTYLE

City Programs Assist Prospective Homeowners

Amy Hiestand
City of Emeryville, Economic Development and Housing Department
June 2007

The City of Emeryville’s Below-Market-Rate (BMR) Program may be your ticket to affordable housing in Emeryville. The BMR Program includes rentals and for-sale units in new developments; rents and sales prices are targeted to households that are moderate-income or below. The best way to keep in the loop about BMR units that are coming up is to be on the City’s “notification list”. As the BMR units in each new project become ready, the developer sends a notification to the City’s mailing list announcing the units and the application deadline. You must apply separately for each BMR project. To get on the mailing list, call 510-596-3789 and leave your name, mailing address, phone number, email address, and whether you are interested in for-sale or rental housing, or both.

Upcoming projects with BMR units include:

· Avenue 64, a 224-unit rental development by BRE Properties at 64th and Christie Avenue. This project will include 8 units reserved for households at low income and 15 units reserved for households with moderate incomes. Marketing is anticipated to begin in late June.

· 1401 Park – Icon Emeryville – currently under construction. This 54-unit development will be marketed as a rental development and also includes 11 live/work units. It is anticipated that marketing will begin in June. The affordability levels within this project are pending City of Emeryville review.

· Glashaus Lofts, a 145-unit for-sale condominium development by Pulte Homes located at 65th and Hollis Streets. The first phase townhome units are now available. The application period for the Below Market Rate units within the townhome phase has passed; however, the second phase BMR application process, for units within the podium structure now under construction, will be later in 2007. There are a total of 18 moderate income units, 6 low income units, and 5 very low income units within Glashaus Lofts. The second phase will include for-sale, affordable units for very low income, low income, and moderate income households.

· 46th Street Lofts by Levin Menzies & Associates will also be available later in 2007. This 79-unit project straddles the Oakland-Emeryville border at Adeline and 46th Streets, and will include 9 BMR for-sale units – 3 for low income households and 6 for moderate income households. City financing is available for qualified first-time homebuyers purchasing for-sale BMR units.

Priority for new BMR units goes first to Emeryville residents, second to applicants employed in Emeryville, and third to all other applicants. To be considered in either the first or second priority group, you must live in Emeryville for a period of 6 months, or work for a business located in Emeryville, at the time of application and through the date of move-in.

If you are interested in purchasing a market rate unit in the City of Emeryville and are a first time homebuyer, the City offers a variety of assistance programs. The Emeryville Redevelopment Agency’s First-Time Homebuyers program provides down payment assistance to low and moderate income, first-time homebuyers purchasing homes in Emeryville. Some exceptions to the first-time homebuyer requirement apply. Contact Janet Anderson, the City’s First Time Homebuyer Programs Coordinator, at (510) 596-4354 or janderson@ci.emeryville.ca.us, for further information on the City’s homebuyer financing programs.

The City of Emeryville also offers a full-service housing rehabilitation program that allows property owners to improve their property values at low or no cost to the owner, while benefiting their neighbors and the rest of the community. The City’s Housing Rehabilitation Program offers grants and loans to low-to-moderate income homeowners and rental property owners who own property occupied by low-to-moderate income tenants in the City of Emeryville. All loan payments are recycled back into the program, so that funds are available to make additional grants and loans. For further information on this program, contact Nancy Templeton, the Housing Rehabilitation Program Coordinator, at (510) 596-3742 or ntempleton@ci.emeryville.ca.us.

For more information about the BMR program and other housing programs offered by the City of Emeryville, please visit the Housing Programs section of the City’s website at http://www.ci.emeryville.ca.us/econdev/.

Amy Hiestand is with Emeryville’s Economic Developlement and Housing Department.