A place to call their own Foundation marks 10 years of helping families purchase homes
Rick Hiebert sits with his daughters Bailey, 3, and Brittany, 12, as they snuggle with their cats Thomas and Earl Saturday afternoon in the family's new Kalispell home. The girls have wanted cats for a long time but until Rick and his wife, Traci, could afford to own their own home again, the family was unable to have pets. The Hieberts purchased their home in July with help from Glacier Affordable Housing Foundation.
By CAMDEN EASTERLING
The Daily Inter Lake
A house arguably is a major component of the American dream.
The details of the building, whether it's type of architecture, size or location, vary with each dreamer. But the ideal is the same - a place to call one's own.
However, many Flathead Valley families are faced with an American reality: They can't afford to buy property in the area they call home.
That's where Glacier Affordable Housing Foundation comes in.
"This is a way that people can pay their own way and live in a decent house, which is the American dream," said Steve Van Helden, who helped found the organization and is the current chief executive officer and past president of Glacier Bank.
The foundation, which serves people in Flathead and other counties, offers down-payment and closing-cost assistance to low- and moderate-income people and families.
This month, Glacier Affordable Housing Foundation celebrated its 10th anniversary. The organization has helped 263 families purchase homes since it was founded in March 1995.
"There are the hard-working people in this community," Van Helden said, "and they have kids and they just can't afford to save for a down payment."
Take Rick and Traci Hiebert of Kalispell for example.
Rick, 34, and Traci, 36, were living with their family in a Kalispell house they had bought, but the house payment was beyond their budget once Rick's job vanished along with the electrical engineering company he had worked for.
He got a job with another firm, but earned half the income.
They decided to sell their house and buy Stageline Pizza in Whitefish with the extra money. They were "buying a job" and an income, they said.
They moved into a basement apartment in Whitefish, thinking it would be a temporary situation.
"But we definitely wanted our own home again," Traci said.
Even with the business, plus Rick continuing to work part time at the engineering company, home ownership was beyond their budget. Rick estimates he was making about $30,000 a year at that point.
The Hieberts applied with the housing foundation and found that the funding package offered would make their house payment $523 a month, which was less than their apartment rent.
The Hieberts moved into their three bedroom, two bathroom 1,000-square-foot home in July 2004.
"We pay our bills like everybody else," Rick Hiebert said, "but now we pay for a house, not an apartment."
The idea that the organization gives a handout is far from true, Van Helden said. It's assistance through grants and loans that are repaid, he explains.
The foundation works with a number of partners, ranging from the Montana Board of Housing to the state Department of Commerce, to find low-interest loans and grants for low-income and moderate-income homebuyers.
The foundation combines those loans and grants to offer the homebuyers a package with affordable monthly payments on their loans.
And the money granted to homebuyers comes back to the foundation when houses sell.
Before this program was created, homeowners who won grants essentially pocketed the money when they sold their houses. There was no entity to recapture and grow that money to help future homebuyers.
"It was a one-shot deal," said Lynn Moon, a consultant for the foundation.
Moon also works for the city of Kalispell as the housing manager in the community development department.
Glacier Affordable Housing Foundation has a good track record, with only two foreclosures in 10 years, a rate that's lower than many similar programs across the country, Van Helden said.
Homeowner Becky O'Donnell, 45, said it's nice to have a place to call home.
"I just wanted something of my own," she said. "I was tired of (renting and) putting money into making somebody else's place look nice."
O'Donnell, who works at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, closed on her townhome in January.
Bobbi Ballou is another satisfied client.
Ballou, 35, and her three daughters moved into their Kalispell house in 1999.
"I didn't think I'd ever be able to do it," Ballou said of buying a home.
Her income as a customer-service representative at an insurance agency didn't provide her with much to support herself and her daughters, much less think about buying a house.
"I didn't have any money to begin with," she said, "and I was only making $7.50 an hour."
Glacier offered Ballou, who now is an accounting clerk for Flathead Industries, a funding package that made her house payment $300 a month, a price she could afford.
Glacier clients build equity by owning houses, which is a welcome change, they said.
O'Donnell noted the irony of her situation. She'd previously rented a house for 16 years - longer than some people live in homes they've bought. But after that long, all she got back was a $150 security deposit.
Equity is nice, but it isn't a priority for the Hieberts. They had so little to pay on their down payment that they know if they sell their home they likely won't get much from it, they say.
Homeownership for them is about putting down roots for themselves and their children, not about contemplating resale values.
O'Donnell said she's glad she'll get more than a security deposit back if she sells her house, but she's not planning on leaving.
"Unless I win the lottery or die, it's my home," she said.
Reporter Camden Easterling can be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at ceasterling@dailyinterlake.com