Live Near Your Work (LNYW), a homeownership assistance program designed to encourage employees to live close to their jobs, will become available in summer 2012 to full-time faculty and staff of American University.

About | Qualifications | Application

Award Process | Recipient Requirements

About the Program

LNYW is a one-year pilot grant program created by the DC Office of Planning that matches contributions made by American University towards the down payment and closing costs for homes purchased by grant-recipient faculty and staff. Grants are determined based on the location and proximity of the purchased home to the university as determined by the DC Office of Planning:

• $12,000 Grant Award if the home is in the Primary Target Area which is within 2.4 miles of campus borders ($6,000 grant from the District and matching $6,000 gift from AU)
• $6,000 Grant Award if the home is in the Secondary Target Area which is within a ½ mile of a designated DC metro station or a ¼ mile of a designated DC transit bus route ($3,000 grant from the District and matching $3,000 gift from AU)
  
  View Map of Target Areas

The grant only can be applied towards the down payment and closing cost for the purchase of a home that will serve as primary residence. The program will be limited to approximately 10 qualified applicants who will be selected for grant eligibility on a first-come, first-serve basis.

To Qualify

To qualify for the grant, applicant must be:

• Full-time faculty or staff member in good standing with American University
• • Full-time faculty member is defined as an individual who is contracted explicitly as a “full-time faculty member,” or has a nine-month contract and has been appointed for the upcoming fall semester.
    
  • Full-time staff member is defined as an individual who is classified as “full-time,” and is scheduled to work for at least 28 hours per week.
    
• Moving to a primary residence within the boundaries noted above

See the "LYNW Documents" list to download a detailed map of streets where there are grant-eligible homes.

To Apply

To apply for the grant, applicant must:

• Submit a completed LNYW Pre-Screening form to Human Resources and receive an Approval of Eligibility notification
• Complete a four-hour pre-purchase homeownership webinar session conducted by NCRC, a HUD-certified agency, followed by a one-on-one session with NCRC’s HUD-certified counselor in order to receive a home buyer education certificate. See Quick Links for a list of upcoming dates for NCRC’s webinar sessions.
• Receive a pre-qualification letter from a mortgage lender
• Complete the LNYW Program Application form
  

Submit the home buyer education certificate, pre-qualification letter, and LNYW Program Application form to Human Resources as soon as possible.

Grant Eligibility and Award Process

Once Human Resources receives all the required LNYW application paperwork, applicants will be placed in a queue on a first-come, first-serve basis. The first ten selected applicants will receive a program eligibility certificate from HR and will have four months to find a home that meets the requirements for the grant. If any of the first ten selected applicants are not able to find a home within the allotted time, the next highest ranking applicant from the remaining applicants will become eligible.

HR will contact the DC Office of Planning to verify whether a home qualifies for a grant. See Quick Links for a detailed map of streets where there are grant-eligible homes.

Grant Recipient Requirements

• The DC Office of Planning portion of the grant is contingent upon the grant recipient completing a LNYW program follow-up survey within six months of receiving the funds. 
• Grant recipient must reside in their purchased home for five years. Otherwise, the DC Office of Planning’s portion of the grant must be repaid.

There may be tax implications to the grant that will vary on an individual basis. Grant recipients are encouraged to seek guidance from a tax advisor. While half of the grant, which comes from the DC government, is tax exempt, the half contributed by AU is considered an employee benefit, and will be considered taxable income to you in the year that you receive it.

For further information, please contact Nancy Pearson at npearson@american.edu or 202-885-3748.