Community Connection can help! Have questions? Talk to one of our housing counselors! Community Connection is a HUD-approved housing counseling agency that provides FREE assistance to potential homeowners, including navigating down payment assistance programs.
Homeownership is one of the most powerful ways for individuals and families to build stability, create assets that can be passed to the next generation, and find financial stability for retirement. But, getting over the first hurdle of becoming a homeowner is becoming more and more difficult. Oregon Housing and Community Service (OHCS) can help people in Oregon buy their first home with down payment assistance. You must work with a participating lender and complete Community Connection’s Homebuying Education Workshop in order to participate in the program.
Eventually, yes. But, there’s great news about this! The money from down payment assistance is an interest-free loan and will be repaid with shared appreciation upon the sale of the home purchased, or when the first mortgage is refinanced.
It means that you don’t have to make a single payment until you refinance or sell the home you purchase with the down payment assistance funds.
Annual gross income of the applicant household must be at or below their county’s Area Median Income (AMI), as established by HUD. Every county’s AMI is updated annually. The 2024 AMIs for the counties we serve are listed below.
$64,800
$62,400
$70,300
$73,500
Yes, applicants households must be a first-time home buyer. However, a first-time home buyer is defined by HUD as “someone who has not owned a home within the past three years.”
Applicant households must have a minimum credit score of 620 to qualify for lender approval. We can help you get your credit score up through one of our Financial Empowerment Series.
© 2024 • Community Connection of Northeast Oregon, Inc. is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit
