Sharon Housing Trust to build new affordable home

SHARON — The Sharon Housing Trust (SHT) is halfway to matching a $50,000 grant that will help pay for a new affordable house on Low Road. Additional donations are being sought to bring the fundraising total up from $25,000 to $50,000.Applicants are also being sought for the house; building won’t begin until there is a confirmed owner, so that they can work in partnership with the Housing Trust on the design of the residence.The building site for the house is at 273 Low Road. The lot is vacant but there are other houses around it. It is at the top of the hillside that slopes down to the wetlands associated with Mudge Pond.Other builders have looked at the site but the town did not want to approve a large property there, according to Housing Trust President Melinda Sweet. The plans for the trust house are based on a Cape Cod-style modular home from Segalla Turnkey Housing in North Canaan. It will be 1,444 square-foot with three bedrooms and two-bathrooms on two floors. There will be a one-car garage, a walkout basement and a large rear deck overlooking the Twin Oaks field.The house is expected to sell for between $150,000 and $175,000. Homes built by the Housing Trust are available to families who live and/or work in any towns in nearby Connecticut and New York who have household incomes that can’t exceed $70,000 to $100,000, depending on household size. Families must also be eligible to obtain a mortgage from the Connecticut Household Finance Authority.Some applicants may also qualify for a Live Where you Work grant of up to $20,000 that doesn’t have to be paid back until the applicant eventually sells the house.“By contributing sweat equity toward the building of the house, it is possible the purchase price can be reduced,” Sweet said.The homesite is 4.14 acres; much of it is wetland, but it has been approved for development and the house is above the wet areas. With wetland, Sweet noted, there is less grass to mow and less snow to plow. “This is a great opportunity to purchase an affordable house,” Sweet said. “It’s a perfect confluence of low price, low interest rates, available grant money, a spectacular site and lovely home design. Financial and real estate experts (including Warren Buffet) agree that this is a unique time for home buyers. They also agree that this will not be the case in five years.”The homeowner owns the house itself; the Housing Trust owns the underlying land. The house can be sold at a future date to an income-qualified buyer or left to the owner’s heirs. “The future sale price can reflect the original purchase price plus authorized improvements and cumulative inceases in the consumer price index,” Sweet said.Applicants for affordable housing are often hard to find in Litchfield County. Sometimes they have prior credit issues that need to be worked out; Sweet said that help is available with navigating the credit and mortgage application process.Some potential homeowners are also unsure of what it means to own a house and not rent. They are perhaps nervous about the financial responsibilities and about their ability to care for and maintain a house. Sweet noted that having a mortgage is often cheaper than paying rent on an apartment — and owning builds equity, as opposed to renting, which is a cash outlay with no financial return. Advice from the trust is available on the advantages of owning versus renting.Applications forms are available at www.sharonhousingtrust.org, or by calling Sue Cummings at 860-364-0276 or Sharon Tingley at 860-364-5321.For general information about the Sharon Housing Trust, call Sweet at 860-364-0028 or email sweetheld@mindspring.com. Donations toward the $50,000 challenge grant may be sent to the Sharon Housing Trust, PO Box 1168, Sharon, CT 06069.