Program to provide half of down payment up to $120,000
The Santa Cruz County Office of Education (SCCOE) announced Thursday, November 16, 2017, that it has partnered with a San Francisco-based startup, Landed, Inc. to provide down payment assistance to support Santa Cruz County public school teachers and staff with the purchase of a home.
The program provides half of the down payment on a home, up to $120,000 per family, in exchange for a portion of the value of the home when sold. Any capitalized gains from this assistance will be re-invested to support buying a home by an ever-growing number of educators in the county. Down payment support will be available to all teachers, administrators, and staff who have worked for a public school or district in the county for at least two years.
“As the cost of housing in Santa Cruz County continues to rise, too many of our educators are feeling the squeeze” said County Superintendent of Schools Michael Watkins. “We believe Landed, Inc. will be a valuable solution to help improve school recruitment and retention by providing educators with a new option to help make homeownership more accessible” Watkins added.
In 2017 Landed, Inc. received a $5 million investment from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to help educators in three public school districts on the Peninsula buy homes. Since its founding in 2015, Landed, Inc. has already helped educators purchase homes in San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Clara, and other cities across the Bay Area.
“As a proud product of Santa Cruz City Schools, I couldn’t be more thrilled to help provide teachers and staff in Santa Cruz County new support to help access homeownership and feel more rooted in their community,” said Landed, Inc. Director of Partnerships, Ian Magruder, a former Student Representative on the Santa Cruz City Schools Board of Trustees whose mother and sister are both local teachers.
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Interested educators can apply for Landed, Inc. support at www.landed.com