The Capital Area Finance Authority announced today it is making changes to one of its popular home loan products that are designed to make it easier for disaster victims in 29 Louisiana parishes to have access to expanded financial assistance with their mortgages.
The changes are being made to CAFA’s conventional loan product, the Freddie Mac HFA Advantage Program. CAFA will lift the income limit on the product, which has traditionally been set at 140% of area median income, thereby enabling more borrowers to take advantage of the program.
CAFA is also making changes to the program that will enable qualified borrowers to reduce their mortgage insurance rates.
The changes to the program come as a federal loan program that has been in effect since last fall and was designed to help victims of the August 2016 flood with their home loan financing comes to an end Friday.
“This means we have the ability to help more families in need of financial support than ever before,” says Ashley Logan, lending program manager at CAFA.
CAFA’s announcement comes a little more than a week after the agency’s board of directors approved the hiring of lobbyist and former Commissioner of Administration Mark Drennen as its new president and CEO.
Under Drennen’s leadership, CAFA— which, three years ago, received expanded authority from the state to act as a public financing authority—is expected to branch out from its traditional mission of providing home loan assistance to low-income borrowers and become more active financing large-scale projects.
In an interview following his hiring, Drennen said his first priority will be to meet with the heads of various entities in the Capital Region with projects CAFA could help finance and determine what level of support the agency might be able to provide.
“Is there something we can do to provide workforce housing? An entity like CAFA could be involved in something like that,” he says. “At some point, Louisiana is going to need toll roads and we will need financing. Is that a role CAFA can play? In the new medical district, is there a role CAFA can play there? There are a lot of projects that CAFA may be able to play an important role in.”
Drennen takes over at the helm of CAFA Oct. 1.
—Stephanie Riegel
