The Dunham Fund signed an agreement with Joseph Corporation for an interest-free, five-year Program Related Investment (PRI) of one million dollars to create the Dunham Home Rehab and Refill Program, a revolving loan fund to purchase, rehab and resell ten to fifteen unoccupied and distressed homes a year on the near east side of Aurora. This area has been identified as a Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) by the City of Aurora and is focused in the Brady Elementary School enrollment boundaries.
This neighborhood has a high concentration of rental property which has resulted in increased student mobility at Brady School. The lack
of homeownership has been a contributing factor to less investment in
the housing stock of the neighborhood. The goal of the Dunham Fund
is to improve the housing stock by re-establishing homeownership
opportunities at affordable prices, and thus reducing the mobility of
students at Brady School with the anticipation of improved academic
achievement when students feel stability in their home and school
environment. The Joseph Corporation is required to repay the Fund's
loan within five years.
The Fund's investment in this program will provide leverage to the
Joseph Corporation as they seek additional funding from other
sources. When JoCo repays the loan, the Dunham Fund's advisors
will reinvest the proceeds in other program related investments which
fulfill the Fund's charitable objectives.
Joseph Corporation will purchase houses in the NRSA at a cost
between $20,000 and $40,000, and rehab and resell them for up to
$80,000 to qualified purchasers at reasonable mortgage loan rates.
JoCo will provide the administration of the program and will rehab the
homes using licensed professionals. A provision in the loan
agreement also calls for the employment of contractors located in the
Dunham Fund service area where feasible. The revolving loan fund will
be replenished upon sale of the home.
Joseph Corporation will also collaborate with Quad County Urban
League's Youth Build Program for labor and improvement of the
aesthetic qualities of the rehabbed home, Fox Valley Habitat for
Humanity for hands-on rehab training, labor, and discounted building
supplies, and Bryan (now known as Emmanuel) House, CDC, for down payment assistance and home ownership counseling to prospective home buyers in the NRSA.
The program will eliminate as many as half of the vacant housing units
in the NRSA and increase the home ownership rate by providing the
opportunity for home ownership to more than one hundred low-income
families over the next five years.Homeownership stabilizes a declining
neighborhood where there are vacant properties and many more
renters than homeowners. Homeowners move four times less than
renters and their children remain in the same schools longer and are
more likely to graduate.
Learn more about Joseph Corporation.
