Police Homeowner Loan Program

The award-winning Police Homeowner Loan Program offers Columbia police officers low-interest (4%), short-term (20 year) financing with no down payment for the purchase of rehabilitated houses in low-income, inner-city neighborhoods. The program evolved from the Community Development Department's purchase-rehabilitation program for low-income neighborhoods. Prior to the inception of this program in 1995 few police lived in these neighborhoods. Residents report that a police officer moving into a neighborhood serves as a deterrent to criminal activity and the program forms a basis for community policing.

The goal of this program is to encourage police officers to reside in low-income neighborhoods in order to reduce criminal activity.

Through the program, 16 homes have been rehabilitated. Officers taking part include 9 white and 7 African-American officers, including three policewomen. Participants range in age from 23 to 49, and 7 have children. Community support for the program is very strong: two low-income neighborhoods near the target neighborhood demanded the city also recruit police homeowners for deteriorated houses in their areas, and this has now taken place. Residents report that a police officer moving into a neighborhood serves as a deterrent to criminal activity and the program forms a basis for community policing. Over 70 communities of all sizes have replicated the Police Homeowner Loan Program, and Columbia has produced a video and brochure in response to the demand for explanatory materials.