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NACA's 'Achieve the Dream' aims to help those struggling to buy a home

By Gina Esposito, wsoctv.com
By Gina Esposito, wsoctv.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There’s a big opportunity that began Thursday for anyone struggling to buy a home in Charlotte.

A nonprofit group is promising to help low-income families get home mortgages -- with no down payment and no closing costs.

[READ MORE: Once controversial group promises to help families become homeowners]

Many people want to own their home, but often, they have trouble getting there.

Thursday was the first day of a multi-day event hosted by NACA, the nation’s largest HUD nonprofit housing and community advocacy group that helps low-to-mid-income families.

“I actually have a friend who has done the program, success with it. Her house is beautiful,” potential homeowner Syreeta Doeby said. “I told her this a push for me to move forward, so that's what I’m doing.”

NACA brought its groundbreaking homeownership program to Charlotte with the very first "Achieve the Dream" event. The event, which was originally scheduled to end Sunday, will run through Monday at the Charlotte East Business Park.

Doeby said that after renting for years, she’s ready to make a move into a home.

Despite her financial burdens and fixed income, she will own a home for her family of four.

“I pay the $1,000, over $1,000, so my kids can be in a good school, have a good environment and feel comfortable,” Doeby said.

Hundreds of people walked through the hallway Thursday, stopped to scan documents and spoke with a counselor who will consult them about buying a home.

The event comes as the city of Charlotte has been trying to close the gap on the affordable housing crisis.

City leaders pledged to build $5,000 affordable units in five years.

Earlier this week, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said Bank of America has offered up to $6 million in funding to support it.

It's an issue that touches people of all backgrounds.

Potential homeowner Derrick Withers was hoping to learn how he could own a home in his retirement.

Walking out of the event, he said he felt clarity on what he needed to do.

“At first, I was thinking about not coming, but I’m so glad I did. I feel so much better and everything worked out pretty well," Withers said.

Channel 9 has reported on affordable housing and how it has been the city's top priority for over a year.

[NACA: Achieve The Dream]

"Achieve the Dream" comes as a new report from Corelogic found that the average home prices for the Charlotte/Concord/Gastonia area shot up more than 6 percent from a year ago.

"We have to have the partnerships to help us make this possible," Lyles said.

The nonprofit has run into trouble in the past, and was the focus of a series of Whistleblower 9 investigations several years ago.

Channel 9's past coverage on NACA:

Leaders with NACA said they made a lot of changes since the Channel 9 investigation nearly eight years ago, when it was discovered the nonprofit wasn't being careful with customer information.

In 2010, our investigation found NACA's Charlotte office threw out stacks of sensitive documents in a dumpster. NACA executives acknowledged that internal changes were made after that investigation.

This week, they invited Channel 9 behind the scenes to show how they're protecting customers. Officials said they have gone completely paperless and now require clients to use scanners to create secure digital files.

They also brought in shredding bins to discard any personal information left behind.

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