This was a big-ticket item that made its way on to the consent calendar at the last City Council meeting, and received no discussion during the meeting (easy-bake)…

Hercules provides new cash infusion to first-time homebuyers program
By Tom Lochner

The Hercules City Council has appropriated an additional $500,000 for the First-Time Homebuyer Purchase Assistance Program, bringing the total for the current fiscal year to $1.5 million.

The council initially appropriated $500,000 to the program when it adopted the fiscal 2008-09 budget, but by September all the money had been committed, according to a staff report. In September, the council appropriated another $500,000, but that money, too, has been committed.

Nineteen applicants have received assistance through the program this fiscal year. At least six more applications are pending, and the additional $500,000 will allow the program to fund existing and anticipated clients during the remainder of the fiscal year, according to city staff.

“It appears that it is a buyer’s market, and first-time homebuyers are being very successful in negotiating the process and terms of their ‘American Dream,’” City Manager Nelson Oliva said in an e-mail this week.

The council unanimously approved the extra $500,000 Tuesday as part of the consent calendar.

Hercules’ First-Time Homebuyer assistance is in the form of a low-interest 20-year loan with no interest accrual the first 10 years. The loan can be up to 20 percent of the purchase price of a Hercules home and is limited to $75,000. The home must be single-family — detached house, town home or condominium — and must previously have been occupied or sold.

More information is available at www.ci.hercules.ca.us. Click on “Departments & Services” then “Affordable Housing” and “First-Time Homebuyers.”