Turn the Key has helped over 100 Philadelphians become homeowners!

9/16/2024

Affordable housing is top of mind for leaders across the nation and Philadelphia is on the forefront of this issue. The City of Philadelphia’s Turn the Key program provides prospective homeowners with $75,000 toward their down payment! On Friday, September 6, we joined Mayor Parker and Turn the Key leaders to celebrate the program’s 100th home loan closing. The program aims to close 1,000 home loans and is part of Mayor Parker’s goal to increase the number of affordable homeownership opportunities. Learn how you can benefit from this initiative!

What It Is

The Turn the Key program creates workforce homes that are affordable for the average Philadelphia resident. This initiative is mindful of the negative impacts of displacement and chooses to build newly constructed homes on public land owned by the Philadelphia Land Bank. Check out the Turn the Key Neighborhood Map for current available developments.

Turn the Key creates affordable housing by providing a $75,000 loan that is forgiven after 15 years, because it is forgiven it is considered a grant. Deed restrictions are lifted after 20 years. The program also allows for layering, or combining, of grants. Most approved applicants will also be eligible for Philly First, a $10,000 grant. Both grants are managed by the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation (PHDC). they allow private bank grants to also be in combination with both grants.

These newly constructed homes have a 10-year tax abatement. This means that for the first year, homeowners only pay property taxes on the land and not the home and taxes gradually increase to the regular rate. This is a huge savings opportunity for first time homeowners! Mayor Parker remarked

Mayor Cherelle Parker speaking at the Turn the Key 100th Home Block Party

I said I wanted affordable luxury... this is what the term means... it represents quality, and with that quality is hope and dignity and pride, and it gives people the desire to work hard to take advantage of this opportunity.”

Ms. Hinton, the 100th Turn the Key homeowner, went to closing with $0 from her own bank account because of the down payment assistance she earned. In recounting her home buying journey, Ms. Hinton stated “It’s not that I couldn’t afford a house. I couldn’t afford the down payment, therein lies the problem. That was a barrier for me in purchasing.” Ms. Hinton learned about the program from a news article and reached out to her representative who connected her with the program. She states “I completed the housing counseling. I made sure to go out to the open houses, made sure to stay in contact with Civetta properties, and here we are today… I’m a homeowner!”

What It Takes

Turn the Key has outlined a 10 step process to purchase a home via their program. AHCOPA provides PHFA certification (Step 4), via our First Time Homebuyer Program. We provide housing counseling, which prepares you and your finances for the homebuying process. We can help you with steps 1 through 5. Keep in mind that after you begin the process with Turn the Key directly (Step 6), you will need to continue housing counseling with them (Step 7).

City employees get “first dibs” on the homes. So far, less than half of the 100 homes have gone to city employees, so residents with other employers can still benefit from this program. Participants of the Turn the Key Program must meet income guidelines. The program limits eligibility to those who make up to 100% of the Area Median Income. If you make more than the Turn the Key

Program income guideline, you can still participate in our free First Time Homebuyer Program and may qualify for different down payment assistance programs.

Where to StarT

Register for a First Time Homebuyer Workshop. They are free! The only cost associated with our program is for the Credit Report, which is required for one-on-one counseling. If you’d like to learn more about down payment assistance programs, check out our blog post about it!

First Time Home Buyer Workshop Registration