Homebuyer programs help penny-pinching refugees achieve American Dream
Saving for a new home away from home
Soe Than has set his sights on owning his first home and settling down. But he’s not your average firsttime homebuyer in Buffalo.
Like many others, he and his wife, Thi Thi Aung, have been in a firsttime homebuyer class for months, learning about credit histories, loans and everything they need to know about buying and owning a home.
They’ve also been participating in a special matched savings program at M&T Bank, setting aside enough money to cover a downpayment. Finally, they signed a contract for a particular house in Riverside.
But while they’re coming to the end of that pursuit around May 1 with the closing, they don’t necessarily share the typical excitement, enthusiasm and anxiety most Americans might experience upon buying a home.
After all, it’s a far cry from protesting a military government in Burma, languishing in prison for seven years, hiding from police between train cars, fleeing the country by swimming, living in a refugee camp in Thailand, and finally finding safety in a foreign country where they barely speak the language.
“Our life is always exciting, always on the run,” said Than, 38, who came here in August 2004 and then brought his wife over. Gesturing around the classroom in downtown Buffalo, he added, “This is ‘normal’ for us.”
Than and his family are among several dozen refugee families from the impoverished and war-torn nations of Burma and Burundi, who fled dangerous conditions in their home country to seek freedom, protection and a better life in this country.
Now, they’ve found themselves living safely in Buffalo, with paying jobs, and like many Americans, they are trying to buy their first homes. So with the help of Hope Refugee Services, HomeFront and M&T Bank Corp., they are participating in a program designed for first-time homebuyers.
“This is definitely our first foray to this extent into this type of relationship,” said Bryan M. Cacciotti, Home- Front’s executive director. “It’s very exciting for us. As the months have gone by, it just seems to have grown and become so much more enjoyable.”
The First Home Club, a program M&T offers from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, encourages low-wage prospective homebuyers to save money, while teaching them to be more financially savvy.
Individuals must regularly save money for at least 10 months, using an account at a participating bank. In exchange, the program provides $4 in matching funds for every $1 saved, up to $7,500. And it requires them to complete at least six hours of homeownership counseling.
But these refugees aren’t like most other participants in First Home Club. In addition to the regular pressure of the program, they also must overcome significant language and cultural hurdles. Most speak little or no English, although they are slowly learning and some can speak in broken sentences. They also are not accustomed to the way many things work in the United States.
“Homeownership is an important and effective way to assimilate into our country and provide stability for newly arrived families, but immigrants often face significant challenges, both financial and cultural,” said Bradley J. Dossinger, M&T vice president and regional Community Reinvestment Act officer.
“Many arrive in the United States with very little capital, and they lack experience with the U. S. financial system.”
In particular, they had to learn about obtaining, managing and fixing their credit. That’s meant a lot of hands-on assistance from the HomeFront staff.
“It’s hard to know the credit laws, easy to get bad credit,” said Than, who works in maintenance at API Delevan in East Aurora. “If we were to do the credit report ourselves, we couldn’t do it. They help us.”
In addition, though, the classes often include a lot of education and questions about basic topics, not only involving finance, but also other subjects. Discussions sometimes sound like the Tower of Babel, with the families conversing in Burmese, Karen or Swahili. But they’ve learned to manage.
“Even with the language barrier, people just speak slowly,” said housing counselor Lori Macakanja, who works directly with the group. “I’ve learned more from them than they have from me. It’s more fun now.”
Indeed, even the Home- Front staff are getting an education, particularly about savings.
“They make $14,000 a year, but $7,000 in savings,” Macakanja said. “It’s instilled in them, where we don’t have that instilled in us.”
“It’s in stark contrast to how we as Americans save,” Cacciotti agreed. “It points out how thrifty one can be if they actually apply themselves.”
Robert G. Shibley, professor of architecture and planning at University at Buffalo, and director of the Urban Design Project, said it’s a positive for Buffalo that it has the infrastructure to support a larger population and the ability to absorb them in existing housing that’s affordable. And he noted that “so much of what made Toronto a vibrant city” was “a very thoughtful policy of immigration that brought new folks into the mix.”
“It has to be terrific. That’s the kind of group that will do well and prosper in our community,” he said. “We’re interested in supporting homeownership in the city of Buffalo, period. It’s a net gain all the way around.”
The unique situation came about in February 2008, as a result of HomeFront’s educational program and its partnerships with organizations on the West Side, including Hope Refugee Services and the International Center of Buffalo.
Hope Refugee was already working with the immigrants, providing translation services and helping them sponsor other families from their home countries so they, too, could come to the United States. So when the families started expressing interest in owning homes, Hope referred them to HomeFront. And HomeFront introduced them to First Home and M&T.
“Right now, I live here four years,” said July Oo, 30, who came in September 2004 from a refugee camp in Thailand, and speaks broken English. “I want my own house. It will make me happy. I can do everything in my house, fix it up the way I want to.”
The group at HomeFront started with four families from Burma, but has since grown to more than 40 from both Burma and Burundi, plus a couple from Vietnam. All have been here at least two years.
About half of the group are particularly active in attending the classes and looking for homes, Macakanja said. Everyone originally wanted to live on the West Side, where many are currently renting houses or apartments, but they’ve since diversified to Riverside and South Buffalo, she said. And many are looking for multifamily homes, so they can live together or sponsor friends and relatives to come from Burma.
All are pre-approved for mortgages with M&T, and are enrolled in First Home Club for at least 10 months. They save $187.50 a month during that time, collecting $1,875, and then M&T matches with $7,500 from the Federal Home Loan Bank. Some are still working on fixing credit issues, but four families are currently under contract to buy houses, with others not far behind.
For example, July and her husband, Zaw Htike, are eyeing two houses on the same street, one of which had been abandoned and rehabilitated after a fire. And Bo Bo, a 38-year-old sushi chef at Dash’s on Main Street in Clarence, is ready to buy a home on the West Side after living in Buffalo for nine years, although his wife, War War Win, 34, is afraid of the crime.
But he still needs to work on his credit, and she’s expecting their second child in early May, so they’re content to remain in their rental house — for now.
“We want freedom for my own home, like the American Dream,” he said. “We are saving for the future, for my baby.”
Than and his family are furthest along. The couple, who have two young children, are buying a two-unit house, with six bedrooms, in Riverside, for $50,000. They currently rent a house with another Burmese family, and Than said the payments will be about the same. But he said it’s important for them to own their own home, for the sake of their children.
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