ALBANY COUNTY — The Affordable Housing Partnership of the Capital Region is working with Albany County to set up a First-Time Homebuyer Navigator Program. 

This initiative will create a new “navigator” position at the Affordable Housing Partnership with the goal of removing common barriers faced by first-time homebuyers.

The person who is hired to fill the post will provide hands-on, expert assistance with funding opportunities, navigating the step-by-step process of purchasing a home, and provide advice and insight into the rehabilitation process of dilapidated properties, according to a release from Albany County.

This will include counseling on securing State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA) and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, and 203k rehab loans to purchase and renovate vacant homes in need of repair.

The navigator will focus primarily on helping people who have low or moderate incomes.

Albany County Legislature Chairwoman Joanne Cunningham called the navigator post “a vital piece of the County Legislature’s Housing Agenda, which combines legislation, funding, and partnerships into a holistic approach striving to create more housing, and especially more affordable housing, in Albany County.”

“This new initiative helps us address historic inequities in housing opportunities that people of color in Albany County have faced stretching back nearly a century,” said Albany County Legislature Deputy Chairwoman Wanda Willingham in the release.

“Most people just need a little direction along the complex journey of property ownership,” she went on. “The First Time Homebuyer Navigator program is the ideal guidance platform for community members who want to buy a house to turn it into a home or purchase a blighted property to rehabilitate. We will support them and fight blight at the same time.”

— Melissa Hale-Spencer