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The Pathway to Purchase down-payment assistance program is now available to families who earn up to $90,000 a year to buy a home that costs less than $356,000 inside city limits.

Approved lenders can help families get a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage and a second mortgage that can be used as a 10 percent down payment, up to $20,000, which can be forgiven after five years if conditions are met.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ans could get the lion’s share of $70 million available statewide, and more than 4,300 families potentially could be helped, said Michael Trailer, director of the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Department of Housing.

A fee added to the loan payments will fund a $500,000 rapid-rehousing program that could help about 100 homeless families find housing in Pima County, he said.

The ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ City Council approved the program Tuesday and Mayor Jonathan Rothschild launched the program Friday.

More information is available at .

Here’s what Rothschild said at the announcement event.

• “We have the infrastructure in this community to move this needle from 42 percent home ownership to where we ought to be as a community. … We’re not looking for 100 percent home ownership — home ownership clearly isn’t for everybody — but when you look at our numbers in the community, we can move this number a big margin if we do it in a way that brings everyone together.â€�
• “Homeownership stabilizes neighborhoods, helps families and individuals build financial security, and even has been shown to increase graduation rates, perhaps by improving residential security. Yet less than half of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s housing units are owner-occupied. Furthermore, many renters are struggling to afford rent when home ownership could be a better bet for them. So it just makes sense for us ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ans to try to increase homeownership by putting all available homebuyer assistance programs out in the market to good use.â€�
• “We’re in a very different place today than we were 10 years ago during the housing bubble. Dodd-Frank (Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act), passed in 2010, prohibits the unsafe lending practices that led to the subprime mortgage crisis and the recession. In fact, a requirement of most of these programs is completing the HUD-approved pre-purchase homebuyer education workshop. … Homeownership is part of the American dream, but it’s a dream you have to go into with your eyes open, making sure you understand what you’re getting into.â€�