In Arkansas, 44% of lower income households spend more than a third of their income on housing, up from 34% in 2002.
Hardworking Arkansan should be able to afford a home and still have enough money for groceries and child care.
Central Arkansas Development Council's Individual Development Account (IDA) program enables hard-working Arkansans to afford a home. The program is a matched savings account. For every dollar that a working individual saves in the program, the IDA program matches it 3-to-1, or $3 for every $1 saved, up to $2,000 per person or $4,000 per household.
That means more working Arkansans can afford to buy a first-time home or remodel their homes to make them safer and more energy efficient.
Jennifer and Bradley Lattin are both employed full time as house-parents in a program that helps troubled youth, while operating a small business, Pure Ink Inc. The couple enrolled in the IDA program, eventually deciding to improve their home, which had been purchased the year prior to enrolling in the program. The program enabled them to improve their budgeting skills through Money Smart financial education classes. By saving a minimum of $10 a month each, the parents of two young children were able to add brick around their home and mailbox, build a deck and install a storm door. The additions not only improved the value of their home, they were also able to increase their usable outdoor space.
By providing Individual Development Account to hard working Arkansans, CADC is helping families obtain safe, affordable homes, while still having enough money for groceries and child care.
Find out more by calling CADC at 501-778-1133.