(Grand Junction, Colo.) – Mesa County helped make housing more affordable for county residents by continuing its partnership with Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA). The Board of County Commissioners voted to enlist CHFA’s help issuing nearly $3.6 million in bonds to finance affordable home mortgages for Mesa County’s low- and moderate-income homebuyers.

Mesa County has assigned its private activity bond (PAB) allocation many times to CHFA for affordable housing purposes. In 2007, the county transferred nearly $3.5 million in bond authority to CHFA. CHFA then leveraged the investment with its own resources to close more than $34 million in affordable home mortgages in the county, helping 213 households achieve homeownership by year-end. The median income of households served by CHFA in Mesa County was $43,962.

“Now is a time when our residents with low and moderate incomes really need access to affordable housing,” according to Mesa County Finance Director Marcia Arnhold. “By assigning our PAB allocation to CHFA, Mesa County intends to increase the availability of adequate, reasonably-priced housing for people within Mesa County and elsewhere in the state.”  

Private activity bonds are tax-exempt bonds that can be issued for specific purposes including: affordable housing, small business finance, manufacturing, higher education, and environmental projects. All cities and counties must issue, or transfer authority for issuing, the bonds by Sept. 15, 2008, or the allocation is automatically recaptured by the state and distributed to other entities.

CHFA Executive Director and CEO, Milroy A. Alexander said, “Homeownership creates a positive economic spin-off benefiting an entire community. Our estimates show that Mesa County will generate $6.9 million in economic activity and create 48 new jobs as a result of using these bonds to finance affordable housing.” Alexander continued, “In 2007, CHFA opened a satellite office in the Grand Junction area to help us bring these critical resources to the western slope.”

CHFA home loans offer borrowers 30- or 40-year fixed interest rates, as well as down payment and closing cost assistance. CHFA requires and pays for all of its customers to attend an in-person or online homebuyer education course. Despite the overall housing market decline, CHFA has a relatively low 4.77 percent delinquency and 1.1 percent foreclosure rate. CHFA attributes this success to its safe lending products, homebuyer education, and borrower access to in-state customer support at either its Denver or Grand Junction offices.

About the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA)

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