worked alongside city government to craft programs that “organically” increase affordable supply while remaining financially viable for builders. One flagship initiative is the Turn the Key program, which Rushdi describes as “the best program in the nation.” On publicly owned vacant land, developers build two-story single-family homes priced around $280,000. For qualified buyers, the city provides a $75,000 non-payable second mortgage – effectively more than 25 percent down – that sits behind the primary mortgage and is forgiven over time. “You can buy a three-bedroom, two-bath singlefamily home with a yard in a neighborhood where other houses might be selling for five to six hundred thousand dollars,” he says.“You come in with almost no money down and end up with a monthly payment 24 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 12, ISSUE 12
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