Working with our new company, HOC Lending, we provide relief services to homeowners identified by a current NHS data project. Headed by our Community Building & Organizing (CB&O) department, our focus has been to identify homeowners throughout Newhallville and connect them to I Heart My Home CT as well as HOC Lending.
Last year, a crowd-funding campaign supported by a Sustainable CT match established the counseling service, I ♥︎ My Home CT. We had hoped to serve 40 households in the first year. To date, over 200 households have been aided in projects like weatherization, solar installations and more! This service offers cost-free, expert counseling to lower utility bills and carbon footprints.
HOC Lending is an emerging Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) related to NHS of New Haven. Individuals who may be ineligible for a housing-related loan through traditional baking and/or have low-moderate income have the opportunity to access low-cost financing through this service. We seek to address issues that prevent people from attaining their goals in buying a home as well as maintaining their home.
Our prior experience completing Success Measures, Community Impact and Conditions surveys helps us to develop a strategy for identifying homeowners who may require assistance with repairs (like roof, steps, windows, painting, etc.).
Building on public data that is available, CB&O has worked to map communities based on housing price, block safety, resident leader concentration and environmental health. Through this work, we hope to continue to support homeowners and mom & pop landlords even as we embark on a new development strategy to create more affordable rental units.
