Sessions Help 1st-Time Home Buyer Find Aid

Buying a home may be easier than some people realize.

That’s the message Woodland Hills-based Affordable Housing U.S.A. Inc. will explain today and Sunday at two workshops for low- to moderate-income first-time home buyers.

The year-old nonprofit organization, created to address the issue of affordable housing in Southern California, provides grants to eligible participants to help them buy their first homes, said its director, Steve Carrigan.

“A lot of low-income families don’t realize they can buy a house with only a few thousand [dollars] of their money,” he said.

The workshops will be at 10 a.m. today at the Coast Federal Bank, 16830 Ventura Blvd., Encino, and at noon Sunday in the community room of the Antelope Valley Mall, corner of Avenue P and 10th Street West in Palmdale.

Affordable Housing U.S.A., which is supported by private donations and grants, operated its first year on a $250,000 budget.

Twenty-six families who attended the organization’s first four workshops received grants ranging from $1,000 to $3,200 and have bought or are in the process of buying homes, Carrigan said.

To be eligible for assistance from the organization, people must be first-time home buyers who have an annual family income of $60,000 or less.

People must purchase a home in any of the six counties the organization serves: Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino or San Diego.

Carrigan said surveys show that many renters can afford mortgage payments but don’t buy homes because they cannot gather the initial down payment, which in many cases is just a few thousand dollars.

“We give them information not only about our grants, but also about the other city and county programs,” he said.