All San Mateo Cities Now in the HEART Program

I just read a press release today that Belmont joined the San Mateo HEART program and that means all San Mateo cities have signed up.  HEART stands for Housing Endowment and Regional Trust and it was created to make housing  more affordable in San Mateo.  They have built a few affordable rental properties in the county, and now they are promoting a new home loans program that allows buyers to get a 3% down loan.  The details of the program is here.    The buyers’ income must not exceed $150k a year and the price of the home being purchased  must not exceed $700k. 

I think it is great that this program is doing this in San Mateo, but I think it is dangerous that they are still promoting loans with very little down payment.  Isn’t that what got us into this mess?  Yes, I understand that it’s pretty difficult to save up a sizable down payment for a median priced San Mateo home, but I’m afraid access to credit will get people into situations where they’re buying a home that is 10 times their salary.  I think the lack of credit may boost savings, and that’s not a bad thing.  The HEART program’s qualification criteria say that the debt a family has must not be greater than 45% of their gross income, but 45% of a family’s gross income is as high as 60% to 75% of that family’s take home income due to taxes.  I don’t think that is very safe and could lead to more home sellers in trouble.

Anyway, I think HEART should build more affordable rental units and encourage people to save, and maybe spend some money on educating these buyers.  I do support their effort in trying to make San Mateo a more affordable place to live for everyone, but I think offering more easy credit is not the way to do it.

 

August 15, 2008 | Filed Under All Cities, News 

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