Innovative loan program helps families of developmentally disabled

Tony Nguyen kicks the thin walls of his family's three-bedroom apartment when upstairs neighbors start singing karaoke. He can fly into rages when their parties last into the morning.

The 10-year-old is both autistic and developmentally disabled, leaving him extraordinarily sensitive to the sounds of footsteps, domestic squabbles and running water that pierce the walls of the Rainier Valley apartment he shares with his mother and younger sister.


		Meryl Schenker / P-I
	Huong Do has been raising her developmentally disabled son, Tony Nguyen, who is under the covers, and his sister, Jody, not shown, in Seattle.

Tony's mother wants to move from her rundown subsidized apartment to a quieter and more stable home, or maybe even buy a modest house. But Huong Do, who kept her maiden name, makes only $11,000 a year, leaving her with few options in Seattle's expensive housing market.

But she is not without hope. An 18-month-old public-private partnership is helping families with developmentally disabled children buy homes in the city.

The program offers families, and adults with developmental disabilities, as much as $130,000 for down payments, inspection fees, taxes and other costs. Participants don't make monthly payments on the loans, which charge almost no interest.

Instead, they pay their debt when they sell or refinance, and they give back some of the appreciation, according to the city of Seattle, one of the participants.

The program, though, only covers part of a home purchase. Families and individuals must first be approved for a separate loan to cover the rest of any home purchase.

The offer is already popular. When staff members sent out the first targeted mailing touting the program, they expected 60 or 70 responses.

"The fact that we got 700 (families) was pretty mind-boggling to us," said Michael Pollowitz, head of Parkview Services, the non-profit that leads the effort. Pollowitz's initial goals are far smaller. The program is projected to work with 12 households within the next year.


		Meryl Schenker / P-I
	Tony Nguyen, 10, enters his Rainier Valley apartment with help from his sister, Jody, after getting off the school bus. Tony, who is autistic, cannot speak. His mother, Huong Do, background left, barely makes ends meet.

The popularity, though, is anecdotal proof of how often parents of developmentally disabled children struggle financially. The loans are reserved for those nearer the bottom of the income scale, such as families of four earning less than $39,000 a year.

"People give up a lot of job opportunities just to care for their (disabled) child," said Nancy Sclater, head of the Seattle-based Disability Fund.

Huong Do is almost too poor to take advantage of the mortgage aid.

The native of central Vietnam has struggled since arriving in Seattle 12 years ago. She immigrated after struggling in a culture that often looks down on those of mixed-race descent, according to a personal history provided by Khanhvy Doan, a caseworker at the Refugee Women's Alliance. She is of Vietnamese and African American descent.

Once in the United States, Huong married, but the union fell apart twice, first after the birth of Tony, then for good after her second child, Jody, was born in 1998.

At first Huong worked slicing up salmon and halibut in West Seattle. But she quit after the demands of caring for a son became far more difficult after he turned 3.

She doesn't work now but would like to. She supports her family on government benefits.

Even if Huong, 32, qualified for $130,000 in down-payment assistance, she would struggle to buy a home in Seattle. A recent search of real estate listings found only one tiny home between $150,000 and $170,000.

Instead, staff members at the Parkview Services Homeownership program could steer Huong towards a quieter condominium, perhaps a corner unit that shares only one wall with neighbors.

Huong, though, is running out of time. Tony began acting out even more in recent weeks, and she is already looking for a new home.

An interpreter said Huong wants to move "as soon as possible because she wishes that she had a stable place where she doesn't need to worry" about the next time she has to move.

LEARN MORE

More information about the homeownership program for those dealing with developmental disabilities is available at www.parkviewservices.org or by calling 206-306-0790.

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