The variety show in Edison raises funds and draws attention to homebuyers’ need for down payment assistance

There is a dispute over the financing of housing assistance. Kalamazoo may need to host a lot of variety shows to help lower-income people buy their first homes.

“I know Laura Lam!” A confused Taco Bob customer screams and violently throws her purse.

The wallet-wielding customer screaming about the City of Kalamazoo’s Chief Operating Officer was played by Stephen Dupuie, who is also the City of Kalamazoo’s CEO Edison Neighborhood Associationas part of the neighborhood association’s variety show held Oct. 3 at the Dormouse Theater to raise money for its down payment assistance program.

The unhinged taco customer was part of a skit by Dormouse Theater Player. Before that, Move with Joy danced Ballet until breakthrough. Kinetic affect delivered spoken word about the beauty and struggle in Michigan, followed by the duo’s Gabriel Giron, who spoke passionately about his experience owning a home for the first time just a few blocks from the theater. Housing Services for the Kalamazoo Neighborhood helped him buy his house, he says.

Dupuie doesn’t really cause any of Kalamazoo’s power players to have fits. He just wants to bring some attention to a major obstacle to home ownership.

A person may be able to pay their rent, pay their bills, have perfect credit, and pay a monthly mortgage—but they don’t have the tens of thousands of dollars for the down payment.

Fran DwightStephen Dupuie brandishes a handbag and plays for laughs in pursuit of a serious cause – raising funds for down payment assistance. Dupuie wants the ENA to help Edison residents make a down payment on their first home. But “right now we only have $5,000,” Dupuie says. “So it’s not much. I have a lot more in mind.”

Compare that $5,000 to $25,000, a number that made the news thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris. promise to provide first-time buyers with financing up to this amount if she wins the White House.

Forbes puts Michigan’s average median down payment at $20,637. That’s a lot of talent shows.

Lots of plates spinning

Dupuie admits that despite the proceeds from the silent auction and wine sales at the event, “the fundraiser is really just to raise awareness.”

When he became director of the ENA about two and a half years ago, Dupuie wanted its mission statement to include a strategic plan to support housing in the neighborhood. So he started the down payment fund.

Fran DwightJoy Burton and Aerick Burton of Move with Joy in the Edison neighborhood danced together as part of the Edison Neighborhood Association’s Variety Show to raise funds for the down payment on housing assistance.“Building housing was a big challenge from the start, we just had to be clear about what role we as a neighborhood association would play in it,” he says.

The theatrical Dupuie uses an old vaudeville routine as a metaphor – he has a small team at the ENA, and they are all “spinning lots of plates.”

For example, you had just gotten a new greenhouse for yourself Tay’s Farma program that teaches residents urban gardening and other sustainability skills. The ENA provides a Community toolboxruns around the clock Wardrobe Providing and organizing food and other goods for people in need Washington Ave. Art and culture tourwhat happened on October 12th.

For an annual ENA membership fee of $10, Edison residents get access to “our growers’ resources, our tool library, community room rentals, all of those things come with the $10 per year membership,” he says . “Also, know that every year, five dollars of that goes directly into this (down payment assistance) pool.”

For 2025, Dupuie says he is clear that the ENA “needs to double its spending on housing…put some money into the pot here.”

Fran DwightA pianist provided music for the Edison Neighborhood Association’s variety show to raise money for the down payment on housing assistance.The ENA is looking for funding. “I’ve been looking for a lot more than the $5,000.” “There are some other players going into 2025 that I can’t really talk about at the moment, but that have the potential with a lot of people that just renting out, making a pretty big impact and transitioning them into home ownership.” “

KNHS funds for down payment assistance are running low

Once the ENA received sufficient funding to provide the assistance, how would it be implemented?

“We would work with KNHS. They would be an important partner in implementation,” says Dupuie.

Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Services could help guide candidates to support. You can also deploy Training for Edison’s first-time home buyers.

Until recently, KNHS was able to provide down payment assistance itself, but money is running low.

Fran DwightKinetic Affect’s Credell Kitchen and Gabriel Giron chronicle the highs and lows of Michigan.KNHS Executive Director Beth McCann, who is participating in the fundraiser, said, “We have been fortunate over the past few years to receive money from the Kalamazoo County Millage in the City of Kalamazoo for down payment assistance. And shortly KNHS will run out of funds because they have not been allocated to us next year. And that will be hard for our future homeowners.

KNHS received $200,000 from the millage for down payment assistance in 2022 and 2023. McCann expects the funds to be exhausted in the first quarter of 2025, “if not sooner.” They also received a $108,098 Down Payment Assistance (DPA) grant from the City of Kalamazoo in the 2022 program year, which was distributed in 2023 Community Development Act Advisory Committee did not continue KNHS funding for down payment assistance in subsequent years.

McCann understands there is a lot of competition for city funding, and she’s OK with where that money goes. “Many people are competing for a fixed amount of money, so I think priorities come into play and that government agencies have to make decisions,” she says.

“But I’m worried. KNHS creates 50 to 100 homeowners per year depending on the year. And last year, 58% of them had down payment assistance. And we have nothing to give. This will have a significant impact on our community.”

McCann explains where the money goes: “These grants go to low- to moderate-income customers who have completed the KNHS Homebuyer Education and Coaching Program and have less than 80% AMI. It’s needs-based.”

Fran DwightThe Dormouse Theater troupe at the Edison Neighborhood Association variety show to raise funds for the down payment on housing assistance.She adds: “Down payment assistance is critical for first-time homebuyers…It’s the part that closes the loop. You can be creditworthy, you can do anything you need to do except save.” 3%, 6%, 8% (of the house value) isn’t going to happen because you have a life. You have to feed your kids, you have to pay rent, so down payment assistance is really important.

Homeowners stabilize neighborhoods

McCann is grateful that one side of the 2024 race for the White House is bringing the issue of down payment assistance into the public eye.

“If communities do things like this and neighborhood associations and organizations like KNHS, foundations, city and county governments all recognize how important this is, I think we will have a lot more homebuyers. And I think we will transform neighborhoods and communities,” she says.

Fran DwightIn a Dormouse sketch, a magician is shown a possible home. Even magicians get frustrated when buying a house.Dupuie says of Edison’s homes, “There’s so much character, craftsmanship and just a really great housing stock here.”

There are sturdy old houses in Edison. If the residents also own these houses, then they are invested in the neighborhood, he emphasizes. And it creates value for homeowners, the neighborhood and society at large.

“They create equity, especially generational wealth,” says Dupuie. “This is important. It definitely offers some stability. It also stabilizes the neighborhood. It helps stabilize the neighborhood in many ways. Because of this vested interest in your place of residence.”

Fran DwightThe company bows at the Edison Variety Show to raise funds for homebuyers’ down payments.