San Francisco to Help Teachers, Cops Buy First Homes

[The Straight Story]

San Francisco to Help Teachers, Cops Buy First Homes
Written by Jason Kobely, Internet News Producer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- San Francisco will start helping teachers and police officers make down payments on their first homes to keep them from leaving the high-cost city.

Credential teachers and police officers could receive up to $20,000 in interest-free loans to help cover the down payments.

If teachers work for the school district for 10 years, they don't have to pay back the loans.

The new city budget sets aside $1 million for teacher loans, enough to cover about 50 down payments.

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=34180

[SoCalDem]

1. That's a nice gesture, but what happens in year 10

when the IRS demands taxes on the "forgiven" loan.. You "know" they will :grr:

The thing that's scary about this , is that 20K down on a house that's fit to live in in those communities, still will mean a whopper of a house payment.

It's better than nothing, but only 50 people will benefit :(

[tbyg52]

2. That's great

and it would be a lot of money most places, but that's about 3-4%, tops, of a San Francisco home price, isn't it? (Not that I'm disparaging free money...!)

I don't see how anyone who wasn't already there before the prices went over half a million can afford it.

[pinto]

3. Not a bad idea. Parallels the loans given to MD's if they work in under-served areas.

I see it as supporting a basic part of an area's infrastructure.

[mondo joe]

4. Good for them. I hope Seattle follows suit. (Though I wish Seattle would do a lot of other

things to create and maintain livable community areas.)

[DrDan]

5. oh man . . . o'lliely is going to hate this . . .

imagine. . . . home ownership for the common person . . .

[davidinalameda]

6. if you're using 10% as a down payment figure

$20K doesn't even begin to touch it