A unique approach to allow low-income families the opportunity to gain home ownership access through alternative financing

Community and Regional Planning and Landscape Architecture professionals along with state and local politicians need to aid low-income family's by informing them of opportunities that will allow them to become home owners in mixed-use (New Urbanist) communities. In one example a study prepared by the Social Enterprise Fund of Edmonton and Calgary, Canada creates an alternative financing source to help social enterprises provide career and economic services low-income families. The purpose of this study is to (1) illustrate the barriers present to purchase a home for low-income households when there is a lack of economic resources, (2) analyze case studies which present the positive and negative approaches to this type of funding and (3) explore alternative financial opportunities provided by private donors that will allow for home ownership with no upfront capital. The focus of this study is on mixed-use (new-urbanist) communities that have been created to allow home ownership to low-income families throughout the U.S. Bookout (1992a) believes that the real obstacle to NU projects is not with development regulations and approval bureaucracies, but with project financing.