In 1991, Roger and Lisa Hedden could afford to pay only $13 a month for their apartment.
The rest was subsidized by state and city housing dollars to help the couple and their three children survive after Roger underwent a kidney and pancreas transplant and was unable to work.
Seven years and one baby later, the Hedden family has come full circle. Both parents are working and, with the help of a state program and money from the Olene Walker Housing Trust Fund, the Heddens just moved into their own home.
It's called the State of Utah's Community Collaboration for Economic Self-Sufficiency. It's affectionately called SUCCESS.
The goal of the program is making welfare recipients economically independent through housing.
The Heddens and three other families are the first in Utah to buy a home through the program. All the homes were less than $120,000 and were purchased with the escrow accounts and state matches.
The program combines the state's affordable housing system with its self-sufficiency programs. Identified families enter a five-year program geared toward teaching self-sufficiency through the state Department of Work-force Services. While they are saving for their home, the families rent low-income apartments. If their incomes increase, so does the rent on the apartment, but the money is put aside in an escrow account for a home.
After five years, the money in escrow can be used for a down payment on a home. And families can apply for a low-interest loan from the Olene Walker Housing Trust Fund, money that isn't due unless the home is resold.
The Heddens had more than $8,000 in their escrow account when they began looking for a home. That was matched by $6,000 from the trust fund, allowing them to offer a sizable down payment and still have money left to finish a bedroom for their youngest child, T.J., who is 5.
Gov. Mike Leavitt has set a goal of $1 million for the trust fund. The fund has $21 million now, and Leavitt has asked for $2.5 million from the 1998 Legislature.
Housing is an expensive commodity in Utah. A new study released by the National Association of Home Builders found three of the 16 least affordable housing markets in the nation are in Utah.