 "Photo: Meg Loucks")
For the first time, Del Valle residents Nester and Blanca Rosas own a home.
After living in public housing for seven years, the Rosas family bought a house through the housing authority of the city's Home Ownership Program.
On Aug. 25, their home became the first finalized under the new program launched July 4, which lends up to $10,000 for first-time home buyers to put a down payment on a house.
Nester, who works as a janitor, never thought he would be eligible to be a homeowner, according to a press release from the housing authority. He and his wife and four girls, all 11-years-old or younger, lived in the Booker T. Washington Terraces housing project.
"We heard about the assistance, but we didn't think we would qualify," Blanca said. "The down payment of $10,000 was a big help to make this a reality."
The Austin housing authority is currently processing about 15 more applications, said Jennifer Jones, a spokeswoman for the housing authority.
"We want to get as many people as possible on the road to owning a home," she said.
Participants must qualify for a loan from a private lender and must not have bought a home previously. The Rosases, like future program participants, had to contribute $2,500 toward the costs.
The loan will be forgiven after five years as long as the Rosases do not default on any payments or refinance, sell or convert the home into a rental property.
A similar effort, the Family Self-Sufficiency Program, provides transportation to jobs for low-income families and has graduated 32 participants since its inception in 1993, said Rebecca Allen, a program manager. But the new program is focused on providing loans to residents purchasing their first home.
The Rosases did not spend much to celebrate the closing of their new home. Most of their savings went to the down payment, Blanca said. So far, they have only been able to buy mattresses for the girls' beds.
"That's my dream," Blanca said. "To be able to buy new furniture for the house."
The four Rosas girls are making the adjustment to a new school, I.W. Popham Elementary School, which does not have the bilingual education they were used to at their old one. A neighboring school has a bilingual program, but Blanca, who now stays at home with the children, cannot drive them to it.
The Rosases have no plans for after their five-year contract ends, but they will likely remain in the Del Valle house.
Although she says the girls miss their old friends, teachers and tutors, Blanca said she is getting used to her new place.
"Here, it feels more like a neighborhood," she said.
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