New loan assistance program readies to help low-income families get home-repair funds | News

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Becoming a homeowner is the American dream. Maintaining that home, can be expensive.

The organization, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, or LISC Memphis, came to the Bluff City with a mission.

The organization wants to help low-income homeowners access funds to repair their homes.

Cathy Cowan, executive director for LISC Memphis, told FOX13 the organization is hoping this program can be a pipeline to generational wealth.

“If you have an asset, it’s your home. You might not have stocks and bonds and things like that. We know when we preserve that asset, you preserve the wealth as well,” said Cowan.

The program isn’t available to everyone. Cowan told FOX13 there are certain criteria a person has to meet in order to be eligible for the loan.

The biggest criteria are that you have to have lived in your house for at least a year and that you must live within the Memphis city limits.

“This is for health and safety issues with your home. It’s a hot day today, we’re sitting here on this porch, and we know you need your HVAC system working. There are a lot of folks that don’t have it working. We know that plumbing is an issue for folks,” said Cowan.

It’s important to note that 901 Help is a loan program. Cowan told FOX13 that those who accepted will have to pay the money back.

“Loans are sized from 5 thousand to 25 thousand for a ten-year term on the loan and you pay it back over 10 years, so you do pay it back.”

Cowan said that being accepted for the loan will be an easier process than if you were to get a loan from a bank.

According to a media release, to qualify, homeowners must own and occupy their single-family or duplex home in Memphis for at least twelve months; current homeowner’s insurance and property tax payment status are required; bankruptcy discharge must be at least one year old; and reverse mortgage holders are not eligible.

For more information, click here or call (901) 272-1122.

United Housing is located at 2750 Colony Park Drive.

“We are going to be putting posters in all of the community centers and all the public libraries. There are some housing corners in the public libraries, with the information, the website, the call number, all of that.”