Safi Ibrahim

The Community Development Corporation of Utah (CDC) collaborates with other housing and financial institutions to assist many people with special needs to become homeowners.  A recent illustrative case is Safi Ibrahim, a divorced single mom and refugee from Africa.    

Safi is originally from Sudan, one of those countries that has had many years of brutal civil war of political and ethnic conflict.  She lived there in a home with her extended family.  But, in 1997 she, along with her family, were driven out of their homeland fearing for their lives, and moved to Syria.  There she went to school and became certified as a Medical Laboratory Technician.  Then eight years ago, under the auspices of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), she was able to move from Damascus to Salt Lake City as a political refugee.    

Here she started to build a new life for herself and her two sons – Ahmed, now age 7, and Amir, age 5.  At first she felt very alone here.  I didn’t know any people from my own country.  The food was different, Burger King and pizza.  She didn’t know where to buy the kind of food they were used to, or how to cook food here.  She tried to get a job as a medical technician, but her academic certification was not accepted.  They rented an apartment and struggled to make ends meet.  She started working part-time, and finally landed a full-time job as a lab assistant at ARUP, where she works now.

Her goal was to become self-sufficient and own her own home.  She worked hard to achieve it and several organizations worked together in a cooperative relationship to lend her the helping hand she needed. 

Julie Williams, at the Self-Sufficiency program of the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City, facilitated her building an escrow account of savings from a percentage of her rent to be applied towards down payment on a home.  Through this program she was able to save over $5,000.

Meanwhile, for two years Joyce Williams at Zions Bank Mortgage Department worked with her to get her credit cleaned up so she could qualify for a mortgage.  Joyce also helped her apply for a “2 for 1” $10,000 matching grant under the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle Home Start Program with $5,000 of the escrow savings.

At CDC, Safi completed the Home Buyer Education class and participated in extensive financial counseling with Elizabeth Tanner.  The class was good.   Most of it I didn’t know before, like the difference between adjustable loans and fixed rate mortgages, and how to buy a house here.  She had never gone through the process of buying her own house before. 

Also at CDC, Isabel Jackson worked with her and put together a package of down payment assistance funded by other organizations and administered by CDC, including $5,000 from the Own in Magna down payment assistance program and $1,600 from the American Dream Initiative (ADDI) program, both funded through Salt Lake County Home Investment Partnership Program funding.  Isabel was wonderful, she put everything together.

Finally she was in a position to buy an inexpensive house for her and her sons.  She found one in Magna, a house which had been repossessed by the US Dept. of Housing and Development (HUD).  She purchased it, and with her savings and assistance from the various programs, the amount of her mortgage was reduced about 15%, to an amount that she could afford on her limited single income.  Then her co-workers held a “Paint Party” for her and they all pitched in and helped spruce the place up.  

The other day when her son Ahmed came home from school he said, “I love your house Mom -- no, it’s our house.”

Safi feels great about living there.  I’m a queen.  Every little thing I feel good about it.  It has changed my life a lot.  I feel more secure.  It’s a big house, they have their own rooms and a play room, it’s nice. 

She has a friend who told her she would never buy a house here because she’s going back home.  Now that the friend has seen what homeownership has done for Safi, she is in the process of buying a home herself. 

Some are scared about buying a house and being responsible.  The feeling is different, owning your own home. Even if scared, they should try it.  Owning makes you think about improving yourself.

Now Safi is working and has started back to school, at the Tooele campus of the Utah College of Applied Technology, to become certified  as a Medical Lab Technician II. 

Wow, makes you think, now I’m responsible, I can’t be lazy.  I can’t lose my home.