Home for Good: How One Woman Turned Rent Into Homeownership
Rising interest rates coupled with increasing home costs can make it difficult to purchase a home. In 2024, FHLB Cincinnati’s Welcome Home Program (WHP) offered $20,000 downpayment and closing cost assistance grants to eligible homebuyers who make less than or equal to 80 percent of the Mortgage Revenue Bond limit for the county in which the home is being purchased.
Member Citizens National Bank, Somerset, Ky., a longtime user of the WHP, has helped numerous homeowners throughout southern Kentucky purchase a home. This milestone can appear out of reach for many, particularly in rural areas of FHLB Cincinnati’s District, such as McCreary County, where poverty rates creep over 30 percent.
Citizens National Bank used WHP funds to help keep Linda Karen Ball in her home. A widow of a veteran, Ms. Ball’s landlord was looking to sell the property in which she lived. With the help of the grant, she was able to stay in the home she had lived in for 13 years—something that she was not sure would be possible.
“My closing date will forever be a holiday in my home,” Ms. Ball said.
Since the creation of WHP in 1998, 41,069 households have received funds with a total of $238.6 million awarded. Just over $39.7 million in grants were awarded in 2024, giving 2,008 households the opportunity to become homeowners in the Fifth District of Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee.
