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Page 10 The Portland Observer—A p ril 17, 1991
April 17, 1991
First Interstate Bank Opens Community Lending Center
A Joint Community Effort
The Community Lending Center has been designed to:
•
Work closely with community lead
ers to identify home ownership
needs in the community and ad
dress those needs through unique
and innovative lending programs.
•
Actively promote First Interstate
Bank’s HOME (Home Ownership
Made Easy) Loan Program to tar
geted communities in Portland.
•
Assist Oregonians with low and
moderate incomes in achieving the
goal of home ownership.
meeting certain household income
requirements. Debt/incom e ratios
and cash reserve requirem ents are
eased for qualified borrowers.
•
•
Act as a focal point for the many
specialized residential real estate
loan programs offered through First
Interstate.
During its first year of operation, the
Community Lending Center will focus
on lending in specific areas in North,
Northeast and
Southeast Portland.
Loan programs available through the
center include:
•
HOME (Home Ownership Made
Easy) loan p ro g ra m . An en
hanced FHA program which eases
down-payment requirements and
debt/income ratios.
•
Home Affordability program . De
veloped by the Portland Organiz
ing Project, the Home Affordabil
ity program. Developed by the Port
land Organizing Project, the Home
Affordability Program provides
mortgage funds to targeted geo
graphic locations and borrowers
State o f O regon hom e loan p ro
g ram . From tim e to time the state
makes funds available at lower
interest rates for home loans to
first-time home buyers with low to
moderate incomes.
•
C onventional loans and sta n d a rd
FHA a n d VA p ro g ra m s. The full
array o f First Interstate’s real yes-
tate loan program s will be avail
able to custom ers o f the lending
center.
The C om m unity L en d in g C enter
S ta ff will:
•
Assist low- and moderate-income
families in qualifying for home
loans in targeted areas.
•
Help neighborhood residents evalu
ate their financial situations and
counsel them on how to prepare to
buy a house.
•
Act as a referral source for all the
special program s available through
outside agencies, focusing on find
ing the loan package that best meets
the needs o f the borrower, even if
it is not a loan from First Inter
state.
•
Offer home ow nership seminars to
neighborhood residents in coopera
tion with community organizations.
'We are grateful to the Portland Organizing Project and the Black
United Front for helping us develop this valuable program," said Ralph
Nickerson, manager of the Community Lending Center. "The HOME
Loan Program will help us meet the needs of many first-time buyers. In
addition, the Community Lending Center will offer other programs that
we can tailor to fit the individual circumstances of people who want to
own their own homes. And we’ll continually work to develop innovative
ways to increase the bank's lending in Portland neighborhoods."
Portland Lender To Launch
Homebuyer Education Seminars
Com m issioner Grethchen Kafoury
today praised Portland’s leading finan
cial institutions as they announced plans
to provide a series of free seminars that
will help Portland-area renters leant
how to become homebuyers.
“ We need to reach out into the
neighborhoods of Portland to help people
learn what it takes to buy a home and
then tell them about the opportunities
available,” she said. “ The banks have
been very responsive thus far in offer
ing new loan program s, and I hope this
effort will increase the num ber o f eli
gible applicants. Home ownership is a
key ingredient o f com m unity develop
ment, and 1 look forward to continued
cooperation with the lenders in prom ot
ing access to mortgage financing.”
The three-part educational series
leads potential homebuyers through the
process of determining how much home
they can afford, selecting and making
an offer on a home, and obtaining
mortgage financing.
The seminars arc sponsored by the
City o f Portland Bureau of Community
Development, Com m issioner Kafoury,
U .S. Bank, First Interstate Bank o f O re
gon, Security Pacific Bank o f Oregon,
Key Bank, Bank of Am erica, the O re
gon Bankers Association, the Oregon
M ortgage Bankers Association, the
Oregon League o f Financial Institu
tions and other mortgage lenders.
“ Based on our past experience with
sponsoring homebuyer seminars, w e’re
expecting a good turnout,” said Karen
Tolvstad, vice president and com m u
nity rein vestment officer for U .S. Bank.
“ We hope to attract many participants,
because there are several new financing
programs available specifically for low-
and moderate-incom e buyers, and we
want to get the work out about those
program s.”
The seminars cover how to qualify
for a mortgage loan, w hat to look for
when selecting a home, and what to
expect from a real estate agent, lender,
appraiser and closing agent. They also
highlight specific mortgage loan pro
gram s, some very new to the Portland
market, that are available through a
variety o f lenders. Some of these new
program s require that a homebuyer at
tend the seminar series to receive their
benefits.
The first thrcc-part seminar series
is scheduled for W ednesday evenings,
January 9th, 16th and 23rd, from 6:30
to 8:30 p.m. at Vernon Presbyterian
Church, N.E. 27th and Killingsworth.
A fourth, follow-up sem inar will be
scheduled for those who purchase a
home in the near future. It will cover
life as a homeowner.
The series will be repeated each
month at a different location. February
sessions are scheduled for the 13th,
20th and 27th at St. Peter’s Catholic
Church in southeast Portland.
Because space is limited, persons
interested in attending the seminars arc
encouraged to reserve a place. Call the
Oregon Bankers Association, 223-5875.
First Interstate Bank officially
opened its Com m unity Lending Center
in January. The lending center, located
at the bank’s w alnut Park branch, 5730
NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., was
developed in partnership with the Port
land Organizing Project and the Black
United Front to respond to the needs of
the neighborhoods these organizations
represent.
Lending to first-tim e home buyers
in inner-city, outer N ortheast and outer
Southeast neighborhoods is the focus of
the new Com m unity Lending Center,
which is designed to help the bank con
tinue to meet its ongoing com m itm ent
to assist home buyers across the eco
nomic spectrum, according to Robert
Ames, president o f First Interstate Bank
o f Oregon.
Ames said that First Interstate also
plans to strengthen its com m itm ent to
low- and m oderate-incom e home buy
ers by helping to fund and develop the
newly-created Home C enter in coopera
tion with other area banks, governm en
tal agencies and com m unity colleges.
The Home Center, proposed last Fall by
Portland City Com m issioner Gretchen
Kafoury, will offer informal counseling
on how to buy and m aintain a home,
how to qualify for a loan and how to
work through the com plicated process
of obtaining a mortgage. The Home
Center recently began holding classes at
the Vernon Presbyterian Church.
Through its Com m unity Lending
Center, First Interstate w ill also offer
information, counseling, seminars and
alternative loan program s, including a
new program called the HOM E (Home
Ownership Made Easy) Loan Program.
“ The Portland O rganizing Project
is pleased with First Interstate B ank’s
aggressive approach to marketing the
HOM E Loan Program , including its
opening o f the Com m unity Lending
C enter,” said Paul Kelly o f the P ort
land O rganizing Project. “ This is a
positive step toward increasing home
ownership am ong low-and moderate-
income fam ilies in our city. W e look
forward optim istically to working with
the bank on other im portant aspects of
this program, such as rehabilitation of
deteriorated but salvageable housing.”
The HOME Loan Program , de
signed to help low- and moderate-in-
come people buy their first homes, was
developed with assistance from the
Portland O rganizing Project and the
Black United Front. Major features of
the HOM E Loan Program include:
First Interstate Bank has donated
funds to Oregon Com m unity Founda
tion, an Oregon nonprofit corporation
to provide a grant o f 1% to be applied
toward the down payment.
-A p p lican ts can be qualified for
house paym ents o f up to 33% of their
m onthly incomes (instead o f the usual
28%).
-R ecu rrin g monthly obligations
such as rent and utility paym ents can be
used as credit references.
-M in im u m dow n payment.
- N o extra fees for low er loan
amounts.
-M o rtg ag e Credit C ertificate pro
gram availability.
Multnomah County
Fair Housing Initiatives Program
Education and Outreach Project
The M ultnomah County Com m u
nity Development Division has received
a $75,000 grant from the U.S. D epart
ment o f Housing and Urban Develop
ment (HUD) to conduct education and
outreach activities under the Fair H ous
ing Initiatives Program. HUD establish
this federal “ Education and O utreach
Initiatives” funding to support com
m unity-based programs which prevent
or elim inate discrim inating housing
practices. HUD’s other emphasis through
the FH IP program is designated for
“ Enforcem ent Initiatives” under the
federal civil rights law.
Clearly, there is a continuing need
to educated the com m unity on fair
housing law. An estimated two-hundred
reports o f housing discrimination were
made to governm ent agencies in O re
gon during 1989-90. O f this number,
the State o f O regon’s Civil Rights
Division and HUD handled 105 formal
com plaints through their adm inistra
tion resolution process. In addition to
these com plaints, a num ber o f private
lawsuits were filed.
The “ Fair Housing Education and
O utreach” project will sponsor activi
ties which prevent or elim inate dis
crim inatory housing practices. The
project activities planned for 1991-1992
include w orkshop sessions for the
community; training for realtors and
property managers; specialized outreach
to the disabled; a state-w ide fair hous
ing conference and production o f fair
housing educational materials.
“ The project has been developed
with an eye tow ard preventing housing
discrim ination problem s in our com
m unity,” says Chair Gladys McCoy.
“ This federal grant, one of only forty
nation-w ide, will make it possible to
bring a comprhensivc array of fair housing
education services top our residents.
People employed in the housing indus
try will receive information on their re
sponsibilities under civil rights law.
People seeking housing will becom e
informed about civil rights protections.”
Education and outreach on state
and federal fair housing law addresses
the housing discrim ination issue in two
ways. First, people em ployed in the
housing industry receive training and
materials designed to educate them about
their responsibilities under civil rights
law. Second, people who are seeking
housing learn about civil rights protec
tions.
Multnomah C ounty’s Fair H ous
ing Education and O utreach Project
will contract with a num ber o f non
profit agencies to conduct program ac
tivities. Those cooperating on the proj
ect, include: M ulti-Family Housing
Council Oregon; M ultnomah County
Legal Aid Service; Access Oregon:
Urban League of Portland; the Portland
Com m unity Housing Office will also
be working with the project. Project ac
tivities, which will be conducted in
1991-92, arc summarized below:
Information Matcrials-Brochures on
fair housing rights will be developed
for people seeking housing in the rental
market. These brochures will be pro
duced in english, Spanish and the pre-
dom inantasian languages. Information
directed toward special populations, ie.
families with children and the disablcd,
will also be developed.
Instructional M atcrials-Training
packets on fair housing law and af
firmative marketing will be developed
for landlords and realtors.