1. The family must meet the general requirements for admission to or continued participation in the HABD Section 8 tenant-based programs outlined in the Section 8 Administrative Plan.

2. Current Section 8 program families must be in full compliance with their lease and the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program requirements and must terminate their current lease arrangement in compliance with the lease.

3. The head of household or spouse must not have previously defaulted on a mortgage securing debt to purchase a home under the homeownership option.

4. The family must be a “first time homeowner”, i.e. ” ... a family member must not have owned title to a principal residence in the last three years before commencement of homeownership assistance for the family under the homeownership program. “First time homeowner” also includes a single parent or displaced homemaker who, while married, owned a home with his or her spouse, or resided in a home owned by his or her spouse.

5. The family must enroll in the HABD designated pre- and post-purchase homeownership counseling programs and be deemed to be “mortgage ready” before a homeownership voucher will be issued.

6. The head of household or spouse must be employed full-time (not less than an average of 30 hours per week) and have been continuously so employed during the year before commencement of homeownership assistance. Families in which the head of household or spouse are disabled or elderly are exempt from this requirement. Families with a disabled household member may request an exemption from this requirement as a reasonable accommodation that will be granted upon determination by HABD of the need to do so.

7. The annual gross income of the adult family members who will own the home at the commencement of homeownership assistance must be equal to the federal minimum wage multiplied by 2,000 hours. The minimum income requirement only applies at the time the family receives homeownership assistance. Public assistance income may not be used to meet this requirement, except for households in which the head or spouse is elderly or disabled and households that include a disabled person other than head or spouse. (Public Assistance includes federal housing assistance or the housing component of a welfare grant; TANF assistance; SSI that is subject to an income eligibility test; food stamps; general assistance or other assistance provided under a Federal, state or local program that provides assistance to meet family living or housing expenses.)

8. The program gives priority to Section 8 families who are enrolled in HABD’s Family Self Sufficiency Program.

9. The minimum homeowner down payment for participation in the HABD Section 8 Homeownership Program is at least three percent of the purchase price, with at least one percent of the purchase price coming from the family’s personal resources.



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