Community Development Corporation of Utah

Community Development Corporation of Utah (CDCU) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was originally founded in 1990 to provide relief for distressed neighborhoods in Salt Lake City. Since then, CDCU has grown to be a major affordable housing provider throughout the state of Utah in both urban and rural communities. With a focus on making homeownership a reality, CDCU builds new homes for ownership, rehabilitates and preserves affordable housing, is a leading homeownership advising provider, and revitalizes neighborhoods around the state. CDCU administers the following programs to fulfill our mission:

Homeownership education and advisory services. CDCU works with prospective homeowners to improve their credit and budgeting practices, educating them on costs and benefits of homeownership, and guiding them through the home purchase process to ensure that these clients will be successful long-term homeowners..

Foreclosure prevention counseling. Our HUD-certified advisors work with clients who are at risk of losing their homes, with an over-75% success rate in preventing foreclosure.

Down payment assistance. The down payment requirement is very commonly a hurdle that prevents working-class families from becoming homeowners. CDCU is the only organization that administers down payment assistance programs for Salt Lake County, Taylorsville and Salt Lake City. This program provides up to $7,500 in funds for qualifying borrowers to help defray closing costs and provide equity for first-time homebuyers.

Owner-occupied home repair. CDCU partners with Salt Lake County and other organizations to provide critical home repairs for low-income homeowners. The Green and Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI) was established to provide low cost loans as well as grants to low- to moderate-income families in need of home repairs to either improve energy efficiency or to help alleviate health/safety hazards in the home. These families are then able to remain in their homes because of the creation of healthier and safer environments for their families.

HomeFit™ Mortgage program. CDCU provides an 80%/20% loan program that allows low- to moderate-income families to obtain 100% loan-to-value financing on their home purchase or refinance. This loan program is less costly than the FHA loan program, requiring only 2% of borrower funds to pay for closing expenses and eliminating the requirement for mortgage insurance.

Home acquisition and rehabilitation. CDCU acquires and rehabilitates foreclosed and dilapidated houses in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods, reselling them to qualified homeowners. This program not only provides affordable homeownership options to low- to moderate-income families, but also revitalizes neighborhoods by remediating the homes (if contaminated) from methamphetamine, radon, and lead hazards. These revitalization efforts have been shown to increase stability and self-sufficiency while reducing crime throughout Utah’s communities. 

During the past year CDCU has:

• Rehabilitated 25 dilapidated homes. In every case, these properties were foreclosed and most were in very poor condition (some even demolished). Left unattended, these properties would have contributed to the deterioration of their neighborhoods
• Remediated 20 homes of methamphetamine contamination
• Taught homebuyer education classes to 294 families to help ensure their success as new homeowners
• Provided pre-purchase counseling to 210 families in order for them to succeed and avoid mortgage default
• Provided one-on-one foreclosure prevention counseling to 100 families, of which 73% with known outcomes were able to remain in their homes.
• Provided down payment assistance to 62 households in Salt Lake City/Salt Lake County/Taylorsville
• Provided 24 families with either low-cost or interest-free loans for owner-occupied critical home repair projects. Most of these projects removed health or accessibility hazards in the home
• Helped 13 households close on their new home with a HomeFit™ mortgage