Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 5-12, 1999

Volume 27, Number 27

339 Yale homebuyers -- and counting!

The Yale Homebuyer Program, which encourages staff and faculty to purchase homes in New Haven, is still going strong -- with 56 University employees taking advantage of the program in just the last 15 months.

Since launching the initiative in 1994, Yale has committed $7.2 million to the Homebuyer Program, which currently provides $25,000 over a 10-year period to eligible Yale employees who buy and live in a home in targeted New Haven neighborhoods.

In the past five years, 339 homes have been purchased by University employees with the aid of the program, and $37.4 million has been invested in homeownership in the New Haven real estate market.

"I am delighted with the ongoing success of Yale's Employee Homebuyer Program," said President Richard C. Levin. "As part of the University's New Haven Initiative, the Homebuyer Program has encouraged hundreds of faculty and staff to take advantage of the quality of life in New Haven and become active contributors to the community."

Vice President Bruce Alexander, director of Yale's Office of New Haven and State Affairs, noted that the 339 Yale employees who have taken advantage of the Yale Homebuyer Program since its inception include 135 clerical & technical staff, 87 faculty members, 70 managerial & professional employees, and 47 service & maintenance workers.

"We're pleased that the Homebuyer Program continues to attract such a broad base of participation among Yale employees," said Alexander, adding that the majority of those in the program have been first-time homeowners.

In fact, the University's Human Resources Department (which administers the program) has offered special workshops, seminars and housing fairs designed to acquaint prospective buyers with the realities of homeownership and show them how to combine Yale's incentive program with others sponsored by the city, the state and local banks. (See related story.)

Yale began its New Haven Homebuyer Program in April of 1994 with a two-year commitment that was reviewed after 1996. While all New Haven homes qualified for the program during Phase I, Yale focused Phase II on those areas of the city that would benefit the most from an increase in stable homeownership -- a crescent of neighborhoods roughly from the Yale campus on the east to Ella Grasso Boulevard on the west.

Phase III expanded the areas covered by the program to include a 20-block extension of the Beaver Hills neighborhood west of Ella Grasso Boulevard to Fitch Street, and a crescent-shaped area just west of I-91, including the Wooster Square neighborhood and the East Rock neighborhood between Orange and State streets. During Phase III, the one-time "closing bonus" received by employees was increased from $4,000 to $5,000. All participants in the program also receive an annual payment of $2,000 for 10 years as long as they remain Yale employees and continue to live in the home.

The 339 homes purchased by Yale employees under the incentive plan in the past five years include 200 single-family houses, 72 multi-family units, 63 condos and 4 co-ops. The purchase price of these homes has ranged from under $50,000 to over $150,000, with 58 percent of them priced under $100,000.

While Yale's program has served as a model for similar initiatives elsewhere in the country, it is still unique among programs nationwide because it imposes no caps on the number of participants, their income or the purchase price of homes. Furthermore, all employees are eligible as long as they work enough hours a week to qualify for Yale's benefits, and, unlike mortgate assistance programs which give higher benefits to those with higher mortgages, Yale's program offers proportionately more benefits at lower purchase prices.

Yale's Homebuyer Program is part of the University's New Haven Initiative announced by President Richard C. Levin in 1994. Through the initiative, Yale has broadened its partnerships with the City of New Haven in the areas of economic development, neighborhood revitalization, education and human development. Other programs currently sponsored by the initiative include the following:

* In partnership with the Hill Development Corporation, Yale-New Haven Hospital and other neighborhood partners, Yale is working to increase homeownership in the Hill neighborhood, with the support of the Fannie Mae Foundation.

* Dwight Place, a $15.3 million shopping center, is the home of anchor tenant Shaw's Supermarket. The Greater Dwight Development Corp., a majority owner, is the primary community organization supported by Yale as part of a Community/University Partnership under a $2.4 million H.U.D. grant to benefit the Dwight, Edgewood and West River neighborhoods.

* The Payne Whitney Gymnasium Construction Affirmative Action Plan, developed by the Fusco Corpoation and Yale, resulted in an increase in the number of minority, female and New Haven residents hired on by Yale.

-- By LuAnn Bishop

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