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Feb. 22, 2007 – At a Housing Committee meeting Monday, which passed a resolution approving the construction of low income/moderate housing initiative, Senator Louis Patrick Hill suggested that his colleagues, as he put it, "walk through the process" with a prospective applicant who seeks to obtain one of the 173 units to be built on St. Thomas.
Senator Hill's queries, put to Clifford Graham Executive Director of the Housing Finance Authority, disclosed that a combined income not to exceed $89,000, along with other requirements, could qualify an individual for a $250,000 unit, with monthly mortgage payments of approximately $2000-$2500.
Senator Hill further suggested that his colleagues look into ways to make financing available to low income applicants and questioned Graham n the possibility of instituting a zero percent down payment program as well as using the Housing Finance Authority's ability to reduce interest rates. In a back and forth exchange, Hill suggested the HFA examine ways to create an innovated financing program. In a later statement, Senator Hill proposed working with our Government Development Bank to develop a program similar to the one in existence in the British Virgin Islands, where commercial lending institutions have made favorable adjustments in their lending policies for low income applicants.
In conclusion, Senator Hill stated he is very impressed by the quality of construction and the effort which was made to design the units for both comfort and beauty. "However", stated Senator Hill, "the best laid plans will be of no avail if people cannot acquire the financing to purchase these state-of-the-art units." Hill applauded Committee Chairman Celestino White when White stated that "We must break down all barriers to make the purchase of these homes possible. "This should be our goal", flatly stated Senator Hill.
