LOCAL HOMEOWNER PURCHASES A CTO HOME

Homeowner Susan Tovar (center) of Chicago’s Southwest Side is joined by Chicago Ald. Michael Zalewski (23rd Ward) (far left), Samantha Arroyo, Homeownership Counselor at The Resurrection Project and CHA CEO Eugene Jones, Jr. as they congratulate Ms. Tovar for becoming a homeowner through the CHA’s Choose to Own program which enables qualified public housing and housing choice voucher residents to become homeowners. Photo: Courtesy of Chicago Housing Authority.
Homeowner Susan Tovar (center) of Chicago’s Southwest Side is joined by Chicago Ald. Michael Zalewski (23rd Ward) (far left), Samantha Arroyo, Homeownership Counselor at The Resurrection Project and CHA CEO Eugene Jones, Jr. as they congratulate Ms. Tovar for becoming a homeowner through the CHA’s Choose to Own program which enables qualified public housing and housing choice voucher residents to become homeowners. Photo: Courtesy of Chicago Housing Authority.

LOCAL HOMEOWNER PURCHASES A CTO HOME

By Safiyyah P. Muhammad

HUD’s Choose To Own (CTO) Program assisted first time homeowner, Susan Tovar in settling down in an attractive single-family home located in Gage Park, marking Tovar as CTO’s

500th closing, according to Eugene Jones, Chief Executive Office for CHA.

“We are celebrating, a new resident (Susan Tovar), who has just bought a home through the Choose To Own Program, which means that a portion of her rent is subsidized by CHA. This means that a portion of her rent will be used to increase equity in her home. She is the 500th homeowner since the inception of the Choose To Own Program.

After having gone through an intense program dealing with

credit repair; attending workshops; establishing a savings program; and scouring all over neighborhood, this is the fruit of her efforts—a beautiful home.”

Tovar, case manager for Easter Seals and first time homeowner through CTO said, “I put my name on a Section 8 waiting list several years ago and I lived in my apartment for four years. While I was there, I enrolled in the Choose To Own

Program. It took me about a year to go through the program.


Now that I have moved into my own home, it’s is a great feeling.” According to Jones, one of the Choose To Own homeowner initiatives is that it offers tenants in public housing or those who have Section 8 vouchers, homeownership opportunities that will help them to purchase their own home.

Tovar encouraged all Choose To Own participants not to give up

on their dreams of purchasing a home--even in spite of barriers and difficulties they might face. Tovar, who has three young children, has been in her new home since August of this year.

Rose Ann Zona, Manager of the Choose To Own program stated that the Choose To Own Program is a CHA homeownership initiative. Public housing residents and or voucher holders may qualify for the program. Instead of using their subsidy toward a rent, they will use their subsidy towards a mortgage. This will allow them to have a home; have equity and be more involved in the community.

"This is our 14th and next year will be our 15th year, which means that a number of working families will be coming off the CTO program. HUD allows up to 15 years for families to receive the subsidy and we have over 500 families that have purchased and more than 115 families are off the program. They don’t need the subsidy anymore.”

Alderman Michael R. Zalewski of the 23rd Ward, congratulated Tovar on her success as a first time homeowner through the Choose To Own Program. Angie Hall, Staff Attorney for the Law Project was among those who attended the

Choose To Own event.

(To learn more about the CHA’s Choose To Own Program, please log on to www.thecha.org.)

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