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BAHBA Agreement FY 2009-10 2 July 6, 2009 <br />BAHBA was created in 2000 as a nonprofit joint powers authority whose members include <br />Contra Costa County, Alameda County, and nine cities within the two counties. BAHBA's <br />primary mission is to promote homeownership opportunities for low to moderate-income <br />households in the nine county Bay Area region. BAHBA contracts with the for-profit, First <br />Home, Inc. (FHI), which serves as BAHBA's administrative arm to manage operations and <br />contracts. BAHBA administers the homebuyer assistance programs for cities and jurisdictions <br />including the 9th Congressional District, Hayward, Antioch, Pinole, Alameda, South San <br />Francisco, and Brisbane. In addition, BAHBA is administering the below market rate ownership <br />programs for the cities of South San Francisco and Brisbane and has had experience <br />implementing similar programs for Oakland and Berkeley along with the counties of Contra <br />Costa, San Mateo, and Alameda. <br />BAHBA also has an extensive network of partners and resources to assist low and moderate <br />income homebuyers with educational information about the homebuying process and financial <br />leveraging from private and public resources such as California Housing Finance Agency <br />(Ca1HFA), Federal Home Loan Bank's WISH Program (which provides matching funds for <br />eligible low income homebuyers), Operation Hope (for credit counseling services), and lenders <br />such. as Meriwest Bank, which is a nonprofit credit union. <br />Regarding the First Time Homebuyer Program, there have been 9 low interest <br />downpayment/closing cost assistance loans approved and 2 currently reserved. Therefore, BAHBA <br />exceeded its FY 2008-09 contractual goal of 5 downpayment/closing costs assistance loans. In FY <br />2008-09, BAHBA administered the sale of one low income for sale unit at the Cherry Glen <br />subdivision and the resale of one (1) existing below market rate unit. BAHBA fell short of its FY <br />2008-09 contractual goal of placing 5 households in below market rate ownership units under the <br />City's inclusionary housing ordinance due to circumstances beyond its control related primarily to <br />the downturn in the housing sales market and scarcity of available below market rate units in the <br />pipeline. <br />The City and BAHBA co-sponsored two (2) free first time homebuyer seminars in San Leandro, <br />both of which BAHBA conducted at the Marina Community Center: the first occurred in October <br />2008 and the second in Apri12009. BAHBA awarded 99 certificates of completion to households <br />who attended either of the seminars which exceeded BAHBA's contractual goal of 75 certificates <br />of completion. To date as well, BAHBA has provided free one-on-one homebuyer counseling to <br />23 households (of which 18 were low to moderate income) who are San Leandro residents and/or <br />employed in the City which is close to its FY 2008-09 contractual goal of 25 households <br />counseled. <br />BAHBA also worked with City staff to conduct the first ever Employer Forum in San Leandro in <br />March 2009. The Employer Forum invited major employers in San Leandro, Alameda and <br />Hayward to learn more about homeownership opportunities for their employees in the current <br />housing market and the local homebuyer programs in each of the three cities. BAHBA also <br />coordinated with City staff to conduct the first Realtor/Lender Workshop in San Leandro to educate <br />local realtors and lenders about how the City homebuyer programs operate and how to market the <br />programs to their clients. The Realtor/Lender Workshop will become an annual event. <br />