The inner city is an expensive place to live and buying a home there is out of reach for most people but an affordable housing program is aiming to change that.
Attainable Homes Calgary works to put middle-income Calgarians in their own homes and offers below-market pricing to those who qualify.
25 apartment condominiums in Mount Pleasant will soon be home to several Calgarians who normally could not afford to live close to the downtown.
Prospective homeowners must be able to qualify for a mortgage and need just $2000 to put down.
The townhouses range between $193,000 and $324,000 and are between 338 and 847 square feet.
The project at 1740 9 Street N.W. is just one of many made possible by the non-profit group.
“Attainable Homes Calgary has 12,000 people who have already registered on the website looking for this program. That’s a significant number of families who just need some help getting on the property ladder,” said Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi. “We need more entry level home options in our city.”
Jill Lassiline knows how hard it is to save for a down payment while also paying rent.
She moved into her Attainable Home in Skyview Ranch six months ago.
"I waited a long time to have my own place,” said Lassiline. "It’s awesome. It’s quite often misunderstood as being a low income thing and it’s not. It’s quite middle to upper middle-income. The city will gift you your five per cent down payment. You need to put $2000 of your own money down and over time you own more and more of the equity in your home."
The units in Mount Pleasant will be offered to qualified buyers first and then the remaining units will be sold to the general public at market value.
For more information, visit the Attainable Homes website.
