City of Middleton Down Payment Assistance

Summary: Under a consulting contract with the City of Middleton, the Partnership helped design and now manages a down payment assistance program that was created to facilitate home ownership by city residents with incomes between 40% and 80% of the county median. The Partnership’s role in the program includes providing program information to prospective borrowers, verifying borrower incomes, preparing documents and reporting. Click here to view or download the program brochure in PDF.

Staff contacts: Kathy Kamp

Wisconsin Partnership's role: Financing program manager

Status of work: Ongoing

In 2004 the City of Middleton’s Affordable Housing Task Force set an action agenda focused on housing options for all kinds of community workers. One element of the agenda was a down payment assistance program with three primary goals:

• To create incentives for developers to meet the City’s workforce housing guidelines
• To encourage reinvestment in and redevelopment of Middleton’s existing housing supply
• To establish a replenishing fund to leverage the City’s original investment in the fund

Under a consulting contract with the City of Middleton, the Partnership helped design and now manages the program, which was created to facilitate home ownership by city residents with incomes between 40% and 80% of the county median. Funds may be used to purchase a single-family home or condominium located within the City of Middleton and can be applied to a down payment, closing costs or certain other costs that must be paid in advance of purchase. Assistance from the fund ranges from 5% to 10% of the purchase price and is repaid without penalty after 15 years if the original borrowers maintain the home as their primary residence. Borrowers who sell or refinance for gain, or who no longer maintain the property as their primary residence, must repay the amount of the down payment assistance plus a percentage of property appreciation.The required repayment will never be more than two times the amount of the original assistance.

The Partnership’s role in the program includes providing program information to prospective borrowers, verifying borrower incomes, preparing documents and reporting. During the first two years of operations, four loans totaling $37,880 were made on properties with a total value of $511,200.