OFN
  • Our Work
    • What is a CDFI?
    • Key Priorities
      • Affordable Housing
      • Financial First Response
      • Climate Change & Resilience
      • Healthy Communities
      • Native Finance
      • Persistent Poverty
      • Racial Equity
      • Rural Development
      • Small Business
    • Impact Stories
    • Impact Data
  • Investing & Giving
    • Why Partner with CDFIs
    • Invest in CDFIs
    • Invest Through OFN
    • Investor Resources
  • Members
    • Join OFN
    • CDFI Connect Community
    • Take Action
  • Public Policy
    • Partnering with the Public Sector
    • U.S. Treasury CDFI Fund
    • Public Policy Communications
    • Take Action
  • Initiatives
    • Current Initiatives
      • CDFI Community Investment Fund
      • Economic Justice Partnership Fund
      • Finance Justice Fund
      • Good to Grow CDFI Investment Fund
      • Grow with Google Small Business Fund
      • Native CDFI Awards
      • Ned Gramlich Award
    • Past Initiatives
  • About
    • About OFN
    • Mission & Vision
    • Our Team
    • OFN Board
    • OFN Training & Events
    • OFN Careers
    • OFN Financials
    • Contact Us
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Press Room
    • CDFI Locator
    • CDFI Industry Job Bank
    • CDFI Resource Library
    • Public Appearances
    • CDFI History
    • About CDFIs for Clients

Quick Links

  • CDFI Locator
  • Blog
  • OFN Training & Events
  • Join
  • CDFI Connect Community
Donna Legare and Joe Houlihan, NHCLF client
3rd
August
2017
Sandown, NH

Displaced Family Finally Settles Down

August 3, 2017

Client: Donna & Joe

Client Location: Sandown, NH

CDFI: New Hampshire Community Loan Fund (NHCLF)

CDFI Services Provided: 

Financing

Financial and Social Impact

From 2002 to 2016, NHCLF’s Welcome Home Loan Program has made:

  • 1,042 loans totaling $47,304,022. (The average loan size is $45,004, and the cumulative loss rate is 2.23%.)
  • 581 loans (58%) to borrowers with low- and very-low incomes
  • 507 loans to first-time homebuyers (61% of 829 borrowers who volunteered this information)
  • 716 loans to seniors age 55+ (48% of 1,491 borrowers who volunteered this information)

Thirteen moves in sixteen years. Donna Legare and her husband, Joe Houlihan, were tired.

There was the kitchen infested with roaches and a neighborhood infested with drugs. There was the racial harassment and violence outside their window. Buildings were sold and rents were raised, and raised again.

“I got to the point where I never unpacked everything,” said Donna Legare. “I felt like we were drifting.”

The worst was an apartment they moved to with their daughter, Josie Rose, to be closer to family. The water smelled foul. When the roof leaked, the manager just gave them a bucket. Donna found out the huge electric bill was because the other apartments were connected to their meter. Then their monthly rent was hiked $400.

The couple was beat up physically from lifetimes of physical, demanding work, and beat up mentally from barely scraping by and living in stressful, unhealthy environments. Both were disabled because of illness or injury, and close to facing eviction.

“I said, ‘Joe, we can’t pay rent anymore. We have to find a cheaper way of living,’” Donna said.

They found a manufactured home on an acre of land in Sandown, NH. The house’s age and Donna and Joe’s lack of credit meant they couldn’t get a bank loan, but Donna went online and found the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund’s (NHCLF) Welcome Home Mortgage Loans.

The house had three bedrooms, a covered porch, garage, and a fenced area for their dogs. The owner was willing to lower the price for a family that would move in, and NHCLF was offering a fixed-rate long-term loan to purchase. Their realtor and family offered additional support.

Not dissuaded by the couple’s lack of credit, NHCLF accepted an alternative form of credit: proof of past loan and utility payments, demonstrating their borrower dependability.

Donna and Joe “cried like babies” when they bought the home.

“Every day I wake up here, I’m happy,” said Donna. “We save a little money, we work on things, and we’re getting there. But the biggest thing is, this is our forever home. We are … finally … HOME.”

Tags: Credit Building, Mortgage, Rural, Technical Assistance

Share post to Facebook
Share post to Twitter
Share post to LinkedIn

Opportunity Finance logo - white

  • About OFN
  • Contact Us
  • Blog
  • OFN Training & Events
  • Newsletter Subscription
  • CDFI Locator
  • Invest in CDFIs
  • CDFI Connect Community
  • CDFI Industry Job Bank
  • Press Room

Copyright © 2023 Opportunity Finance Network. All rights reserved.

  • Terms of Use
  • Sitemap