GREENSBORO, N.C. — On April 15, 2018, a tornado churned through east Greensboro neighborhoods, leaving a path of debris and destroyed homes behind it. The area is one of the city's opportunity zones, a neighborhood "consisting primarily of economically distressed communities."
Sophia Crisp says she saw too many families who were, understandably, unprepared for the life-altering displacement of their wrecked properties. Many residents turned to rental housing as they recouped.
Former realtor and current Executive Director of the Housing Consultants Group, Sophia Crisp suspected the stresses of the change would be financially difficult for those renters.
"The rent in the tornado-effected area is really high, it's like 800 dollars," Crisp said, "so it kind of got me thinking, people aren't ready right now to be a homeowners. And the #100Homes idea came about."
"We basically said, 'Who wants to be a homeowner?' Let's get to one hundred," she said.
Housing Consultants Group partnered with Greensboro's Neighborhood Development Department, and by using some of the $25 million set aside in the 2016 Housing Bond, developed a program to convert home renters into home owners. It targeted the area most severely afflicted by the tornado, but anyone is eligible to apply.
On January 1, 2019, Greensboro city's website still listed December 31st as #100Homes deadline. 365 days. 100 homes. The task of transforming the east side of Greensboro, N.C. had been set.
"It seemed like a reasonable expectation," said Crisp, "and we wanted something good before the one-year anniversary despite all the devastation."
By offering home-buyer down payment assistance, the group figured it would be able lure renters towards ownership.
The city, nor Crisp, could have anticipated what happened next. The program cruised to 100 homes by early June. After experiencing so much success, it doubled its efforts to #200Homes. The 200 house goal was reached August 2nd, 2019.
"We didn't really even need to market it that much," Crisp said, "the hashtag #100 homes and just word of mouth had our phones ringing off the hook."
"If it wasn't for the #100Homes program, I don't know where I would be. It would have been much harder in my situation," Schelena Stuckey said.
Stuckey signed the down payment one day before she went into labor with her one-month old boy, Ky.
"In my case," she said, "I only had to put down $150, and there were able to help me with $18,000. If it had been the other way around, I'd still be looking for a house."
But not every caller, Crisp said, was immediately ready to be a home owner.
The HCG realized applicants' levels of credit, budgeting and financial know-how varied from case to case. If applicants were unable meet baseline financial requirements, they weren't, however, kicked to the curb.
"It's really exciting for me, because the answer is never 'no.' It may be right now, but we never say 'no.'" she said, "if we can get people to be willing to commit and be accountable, they can be a homeowner."
The program, in partnership with local sponsors, enrolls them in a 5-week financial boot camp, helping walk people through the process of first time home ownership.
"I took the class," Stuckey said, "and it was very informative. Learning all the responsibilities that happen when you first purchase a home was really helpful."
The work is personally rewarding to Sophia. She's proud of the initiative's success and the effort her team took ingest the hundreds of applicant requests.
"It's been a pleasure working with the city, putting the dollars in people's hands and seeing a tangible result of the bond money," she said.
Moving forward, will continue to collect data in an effort to work more area development programs in the future. The hope, Crisp said, is to see the community surrounding the new homeowners changed for the better.
"We want to present to the city about what these dollars have done," Crisp said, "We want to see what we can do to go above and beyond to make sure we are getting amenities in the area, like parks and stores, so that people that move there want to stay there."
RELATED: Greensboro's '#100Homes Campaign' Reaches Goal Early, Converts 100 Renters To First-Time Homebuyers
