Assistance, sweat equity allow couple to buy their own place

When Thelma and LeRoy Staley move into their new home, they already know their neighbors. Their three-bedroom house is part of a Community Frameworks’ neighborhood development located a good 10 minutes west of Spokane. Part of the deal is that the Staleys work together with two other families finishing their homes at the same time.

“It’s two single women,” said LeRoy Staley about their new neighbors, while Thelma Staley excitedly showed off the home on a rainy morning last week.

“It may not be that big but we like it,” said Thelma Staley, pointing out where new appliances will go in the kitchen and where the pantry will be, just off the hallway. “And I’ll have my window over the sink to look outside. You got to have a window over the sink.”

Community Frameworks is a nonprofit organization that facilitates construction of affordable housing and provides classes and first-time homebuyer programs. The Staleys’ home is one of three homes currently being finished in Takoda Park, located in the West Plains, a 14-home development that’s come together over the past two years.

All the homeowners have put in some sweat equity on their own and their neighbors’ homes.

“We have built 168 homes over the past 14 years here in Spokane,” said Melody Kinkead, HomeStarts Program Coordinator, adding that an additional 10 homes are scheduled for Takoda Park over the next 10 years.

Community Frameworks coordinates mortgages with 100 percent financing at low rates for homeowners that qualify for programs like HomeStarts – the program that helped the Staleys get into their home.

Funding partners at Takoda Park include the USDA Rural Development program, Department of Housing and Urban Development programs and the Washington State Housing Trust Fund.

Locally, Community Frameworks also partners with the Salvation Army and Volunteers of America.

Takoda Park is not the only neighborhood being developed by Community Frameworks.

On East Appleway, near University Road, the organization is building The Valley Pointe Project consisting of 30 townhomes starting at about $120,000 also for first-time homebuyers.

“We have been building homes for low-income families without much fanfare for years,” said Diane Leigland, deputy director of Community Frameworks. “We recently launched the ‘Do You Have One Spokane?’ campaign. Two of the families here at Takoda Park were able to buy a house through that program.”

“Do You Have One Spokane?” provides mortgage and credit education in order to make it easier for first-time homebuyers to get into a home.

Thelma Staley said she and her husband perhaps are older than many of the families that qualify for programs through Community Frameworks, but she encouraged other older couples to apply.

“We are older but we figured never say never until it’s completely over,” said Thelma Staley, adding that it’s been easy and reassuring to work with Community Frameworks. “Now we are kind of looking forward to being the grandparents in the neighborhood.”