As home prices rise in Hamilton, a city program aims to help residents in poorer areas buy their way into the boom, while helping keep their neighbourhoods intact and curbing the impact of outsiders or investors.

And judging from fully booked city meetings with would-be homebuyers Wednesday and Thursday, the program is tapping into a need.

It's critical that people who live in the neighbourhood for years are not forced out, that the neighbourhoods remain complete. - Stewart Chisholm, Evergreen CityWorks

The city plans to lend about 25 first-time homebuyers who can't afford a downpayment the money to help them buy in certain neighbourhoods.

Word of the program spread quickly, attracting an "overwhelming response" of about 200 people who signed up to attend "home readiness" education sessions Wednesday and Thursday, said city spokeswoman Aisling Higgins.

City staff say it will "increase residential stability and ownership" in neighbourhoods under the city's "Neighbourhood Action Strategy" banner.

Change coming to stable neighbourhoods

"Certainly we know there are lots of folks in the Hamilton area paying significant rent when they could be potentially homeowners for less money than it costs to rent," said Tom Cooper, director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction. "In homeownership you have the opportunity for that personal investment and a bit of a nest egg."

Participants must:

- earn less than $70,000 per household

- have been renting in Hamilton for at least the last six months

- want to buy in neighbourhoods like Jamesville, Sherman, Stinson and Beasley

- find a house for less than $275,000

Renters who want to buy homes in these neighbourhoods could qualify for a no-interest, no-payments loan from the city to help with a downpayment. (City of Hamilton) Hamilton's North End has seen dramatic increases in price, and an expanded GO Transit station promises even more impacts.

"It's a stable neighbourhood, a close-knit community, but at the same time change is definitely coming," said Stewart Chisholm, director of partner services with Evergreen CityWorks, who has been working on projects in some neighbourhoods near Hamilton's West Harbour.

"It's critical that people who live in the neighbourhood for years are not forced out, that the neighbourhoods remain complete," Chisholm said. "What I think really needs to be avoided is the Toronto situation," where Chisholm said waves of development have left a "very narrow demographic" in some neighbourhoods.

"The city has this once in a lifetime opportunity to do planning that is excellent, that is inclusive to people of all backgrounds, all income levels and ages," Chisholm said.

'Brings a couple more people into the fold'

Home prices have been rising most in the core compared to other parts of Hamilton, according to statistics compiled by the real estate board. The city wants to pitch in 5 per cent toward households earning more than $50,000 and 10 per cent for households earning less than that.

The loans are granted with no interest or monthly payments. Homeowners must pay the city back first, plus a portion of the capital gain, if they sell within 20 years.

The money comes from a revolving fund; when people who've borrowed from the city in past iterations of the program sell their house, they pay the city back and the money can be re-granted to another buyer.

In 2008 into 2009, the city doled out $1.4 million in grants to 195 households. They gave out another $563,000 to 31 homebuyers in 2010, and another 45 homebuyers used $824,000 in city help in 2012, Higgins said.

This year the city has $415,000 to give out, which, depending on the cost of the homes purchased, will be divided into around 25 grants.

It sounds like a really great way to mitigate some of the negative effects of gentrification. - Adrienne Havercroft, realtor

City staff are meeting with some of the potential homebuyers Wednesday and Thursday, fielding questions and corralling necessary paperwork.

The program is first-come, first-served for qualified applicants, but the city encourages people to still apply even though the response has been great.

Adrienne Havercroft is a teacher and realtor who's lived in Stinson for nine years, first as a renter, now as a homeowner. She studied gentrification for her Master's thesis at McMaster University, and she described herself as a "reluctant capitalist."

Havercroft said the downpayment assistance program sounds like a great idea to her.

"It sounds like a really great way to mitigate some of the negative effects of gentrification," Havercroft said. "The people who lose from that are renters, the people who don't get to benefit from the improvement that happens in their neighbourhood."

Havercroft said she hasn't seen the mix of people living in the neighbourhood change dramatically since she moved there, and she's happy about that. She cheered the city's attempts to help even a couple of dozen households "ride that wave up."

"There are still going to be losers in gentrification," she said. "Programs like this at least brings a couple more people into the fold."

More information about and applications for the program can be found on the city's website.