Doyle announces home-loan initiatives WHEDA will make low-interest loans to some public employees By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle Gov. Jim Doyle checked out a house for sale on Green Bay's near West Side Monday afternoon. No, the governor's mansion isn't moving. Doyle was there to promote new programs being started by the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority. The WHEDA initiatives are: Homes for Our Heroes - a special financing program at below-market rates for police officers, firefighters and teachers. The authority is spending $10 million on the project in 2004. "We must end situations where public servants who protect us and teach our children cannot afford to live in the cities that they serve," the governor said. The department has no prediction of how many loans might be made in the project. Mortgage Guardian - a mortgage insurance plan that will automatically be included in WHEDA loans starting in January. Lease Purchase - a program to enable buyers with adequate income but poor credit to save for their down payment and work on credit repair. The authority also plans a program called Pathway Home with homebuyer education aimed at predatory lending, the use of easy paperwork that hides extremely bad loan terms. WHEDA, started in 1973, uses the interest from its loans to fund future programs and does not use state budget funding. It has produced about $285 million in low-interest mortgages statewide, about 3,200 mortgages. Many are for first-time low-income home buyers. That low-income level is important. WHEDA Director Antonio Riley noted that a state family had to earn twice the minimum wage to pay rent on a 2-bedroom apartment. The house, built by the Green Bay Redevelopment Authority with a no-interest loan from WHEDA, is just the sort of project the state authority likes - a house in the $100,000 range, aimed at first-time home buyers. This house, the first built from scratch (rather than modular construction) by the RDA, is designed to be handicapped-accessible, with a garage linking directly to the house at floor level, a large wheelchair-accessible shower and other conveniences. "This house shows how far we have come in partnering with local homebuilders to ensure that new homes that WHEDA builds in established neighborhoods complement the older homes in the area," Doyle said. The governor also announced $6.5 million in community developmental block grants for housing, although none of it was for Brown County. State Sen. Dave Hansen, who lives in the neighborhood, was happy to see the new neighbor. "This used to be full of junk," he said of the site. "This really improves it a lot." FYI: For more information on WHEDA homeloans, call 1-800-334-6873 or visit www.wheda.com. For information on the Green Bay RDA's housing, call 448-3142.