Why Down Payment Assistance?

For many Bay Area residents, their monthly rent is roughly the same as a monthly mortgage payment, making saving for the down payment their primary barrier to homeownership. Down payment assistance loan programs are designed to help remove that barrier.

What is AC Boost?

AC Boost is a thoughtfully-designed down payment assistance loan program created to help our workforce afford to buy a home in Alameda County. Designed and managed by Hello Housing in partnership with Alameda County Housing and Community Development (“HCD”) with funding provided by county voters through Measure A1, AC Boost gives buyers a boost, providing loans that are intended to bring home-ownership within reach of households who would otherwise not be able to afford a home. The program is designed to give preference to educators, first responders and households who have been displaced from the County. The program also features a transit benefit that increases borrowing for buyers of homes that are in close proximity to their work or public transportation to work.

How much can I borrow?

AC Boost provides loans of up to $210,000 (depending on buyer income and need). Loans are interest free and have no monthly payment during the time that a household owns their home. Instead, the program requires repayment only when (1) the home is sold, (2) when the owner would like to take cash out of the home in a refinance (3) the owner no longer wishes to occupy the home or (4) when the 30-year loan term ends. At time of payoff, the owner repays the amount that they borrowed plus a proportional share of the increase in the value of their home.

Interested? For more information, please visit ACBoost.org. For details about the program’s current funding cycle, please see our Press Release.