The Westlake City Council passed a resolution at their Tuesday, July 2 meeting that will allow more first-time homebuyers to tap into a $4.3 million treasure chest of benefits.
Under the changes to the city’s Housing Assistance Purchase Program Yearly — known as HAPPY — first-time homebuyers or those who have not owned a residence during the last three years can qualify for $25,000 to $35,000 toward the purchase of a home valued at up to $568,577.
The program is tethered to Federal Housing Administration income guidelines in relation to income eligibility.
Realistically, most applicants will qualify for assistance with homes in the $350,000 to $450,000 range, such as the community’s two recently added townhome developments, The Crossings and The Terraces. However, Westlake may have single-family homes coming online that are in that price range.
“This has been a long time coming and is a much-needed change,” Mayor JohnPaul O’Connor said. “It’s a great program and really designed to do workforce housing better than [anywhere else in Palm Beach County]… It’s not only about people who need a leg up, but also about the type of people we want to attract to this city.”
The program takes the place of the Florida Hometown Heroes program and is modeled after it, though it expands the definition of “essential services personnel” to include teachers, educators and other school district personnel, community college and university employees, police and fire personnel, health care providers, local government personnel within the county, active-duty members of the military and veterans.
“They are part of the great core of people we want to attract to Westlake,” O’Connor said this week.
Previously, eligibility was based solely on family income and the price of the home.
Even though the program has been sidelined for some time, City Manager Kenneth Cassel said some 40 families already have been aided by it.
“This is to help people get over the hump so that they can get into their first home,” Cassel explained. “Once you get into your first house, you start to build equity. You continue to grow and continue to move upward.”
Cassel, who worked with Minto Communities USA Senior Vice President John Carter to shape the original offering, added, “That’s what the intent of this whole program was from the beginning.”
Minto is the largest developer and landowner in Westlake, which incorporated as the county’s 39th municipality in 2016.
In April, Carter said, “Westlake targets affordability… attracting families and civil servants. Without doubt, that’s our secret sauce.”
That “sauce” has helped keep Westlake the county’s fast-growing community for the last several years, averaging approximately 40 new home occupancies every month, Cassel said.
This week, Cassel noted that many of the same professionals also can take advantage of a three percent discount as part of Minto’s Welcome Heroes initiative. The two programs are “stackable,” he said, though HAPPY and the state’s Hometown Heroes program cannot be used together.
“I’m happy we went over the HAPPY program, revamped it and brought it back to life,” Councilman Julian Martinez said. “I look forward to seeing all the applicants we can approve for it.”
