CHOICES focus is to provide affordable housing for people who fall between median income and those who qualify for Habitat homes or other programs that provide housing options for very low-income families. The people CHOICES seeks to serve are educators, fire fighters, bank tellers, law enforcement, health care workers, retail and office clerks, all of whom constitute the work and economic engines of community life. It is anticipated that as the gap between wages and area housing costs keeps widening, accommodating the housing needs of these families will become increasingly difficult.

To overcome these obstacles, CHOICES is in the process of creating affordable mortgages through an equity-share program. Money from investors will be placed in a fund to fill the gap between the amount the homebuyer can acquire as a mortgage and the homebuyer’s down payment. This will be applied as a silent second with no payments until the home is refinanced or sold. When this occurs, the investor fund will have a share in the equity after all notes are paid.

To qualify for the equity share program, homebuyers must be income eligible, qualify for a mortgage and participate in homebuyer education and financial counseling from the time of their initial application.

All homebuyers will be required to participate in two programs prior to home occupation. The Financial Counseling Program, designed to assist potential homebuyers improve credit scores, learn better spending habits, pay off debt and save for down payment must be completed prior to the release of funds. The Homeownership Education, which teaches families’ basic home maintenance skills, will begin during the application process. Additionally, homebuyers will be assigned a mentor for the first three years in the home.