The city is expanding a program that assists with recruitment of first responders by adding home improvement loans and widening the area where fire and police personnel can purchase homes for the maximum loan amount.
All loans made to first responders are 0% interest and forgivable after five years as long as the recipient stays on the job through the end of the five-year loan term. Two council members — Bruce Lockett and Win Trafford — offered competing proposals at a City Council meeting Monday.
The city implemented the First Responder’s Home-buyers Incentive Program in 2018, providing for 0%/no payment second loans for qualifying applicants in the police and fire departments to assist them with buying homes inside the city limits. In its original incarnation, the program provided for loans of $5,000 for applicants to purchase a home anywhere inside the city limits or $10,000 to purchase a home in one of the city’s three urban renewal zones.