It’s been surprisingly busy for the summertime,

and now there’s quite a bit of housing news to mention that’s of interest in San Mateo County. Here are three highlights:

HEART funds first homebuyer downpayment loan

HEART funded its first homebuyer loan through Opening Doors in Our Community, our homebuyer assistance program with Meriwest Mortgage, a subsidiary of Meriwest Credit Union. Kelly is a social worker with the County of San Mateo and Victoria works with a nonprofit in the City. They bought a starter home in San Mateo, with room for their dogs, and saved hours and miles in their commute.

– Read our joint press release with Meriwest
– Read the story in the Daily Journal

Welcome to the City of Belmont

HEART welcomes the City of Belmont as its newest member! Now, all 21 of the jurisdictions in the County participate as formal members of the joint powers authority that governs HEART. HEART is grateful to Belmont for this action.

National Housing Trust Fund proposal still alive

We’ve written before about the National Housing Trust Fund before. It’s old news by now, but we ought to report that the fund was officially created as part of the federal housing bill. It will take a few years to “trickle down” to the local level, and quite a lot of the funding the first two years will go toward stabilizing the mortgage market through the Federal Housing Administration. Still, it’s great news! Read more from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition.