Sedona News – Applications are now being accepted for the Sedona Workforce Housing Assistance Program. Qualified homebuyers may receive up to $25,000 toward a down payment on a first home in the Verde Valley. Through a partnership with Housing Solutions of Northern Arizona, the city of Sedona is providing funds to help make homeownership an option for households that do not have sufficient cash to purchase a home but are otherwise mortgage eligible based on credit and income.
The city’s housing study, prepared for the city of Sedona in November 2020 by Elliott D. Pollack & Company, identified an affordable housing gap of approximately 1,500 households. The housing crisis has been exacerbated even further since the study’s completion, with home values soaring in Sedona and the surrounding areas. The Affordable Housing Action Plan resulting from the housing study recommended various strategies to address affordability including the development of a down payment assistance program. The program is designed to provide community stability in homeownership and local employment.
The program provides a 2.5:1 match of the buyer’s funds for those employed by an eligible employer within Sedona’s city limits. The buyer must work at least 30 hours per week and the employer must verify that the employee’s job duties cannot be completed remotely. Qualifying buyers must have a household income at or below 150% of the area median income and must complete Homebuyer Counseling through Housing Solutions of Northern Arizona. Eligible properties may be located anywhere in the Verde Valley.
To get started or learn more go to HousingNAZ.org or call Angela at Housing Solutions of Northern Arizona (928) 214-7456.
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Another joke on the citizens of Sedona! In an effort to assure our workforce a place to live, the brain surgeons in city leadership have figured out how to use your tax dollars (just because there’s no property taxes doesn’t mean you’re not paying for this crap!) to do such wonderful things for the poor, underprivileged workers in this city! Here are the numbers broken down, for this down payment assistance plan:
If you work in Sedona and make $81k a year or approx $6,750 a month, working at least 30 hours a week and have saved $10k for your down payment, the city will give you a $25k second mortgage (loan to be paid back) that you can add to your down payment, giving you $35k to use for down payment and closing costs. So with a $25k windfall from the taxpayers, how much can a Sedona worker afford to pay for a house? Depending on the size of your car payment, you can afford about $250k. Currently there are 6 manufactured homes in the VV in your price range; 4 of those a very small manufactured homes.
The Sedona leadership paid someone to come up with this kind of rockin’ plan! A job in Sedona that pays $81k a year? This will fix the housing shortage! Bwaaahaaaa!