Government Affairs
Governor Vetoes Welcome Home Program
With his signature, the Governor erases a program that would have helped 3,000 Montana families purchase their first house and saved them each roughly $12,000. Now many of these families will have a higher monthly mortgage or be unable to buy at all.
The welcome home program was not a substantial risk for the state of Montana. In fact the opposite is true, it was specifically designed to ensure the state and Montana taxpayers would not be assuming the risk. The loans would have been made with private dollars. In fact, without the program banks will be prohibited from lending down payments to first time buyers using FHA loans.
We will continue for ways to promote home ownership. Additionally, we will continue to work with NeighborWorks Montana on creating a large scale, meaningful first time homebuyer assistance program.