Bennito L. Kelty
Audio By Carbonatix
The City of Aurora will help working families buy a home with a new taxpayer-funded down payment assistance program.
According to a December 9 announcement, the city is willing to cover between 4 and 10 percent of a home’s down payment, but there is a time limit. The program will end on October 31, 2026, or when all $720,000 in state funding for the program runs out.
The idea is “to make homeownership more achievable for the families and individuals who call Aurora home,” according to Aurora housing and community development manager Sarah Pulliam.
Although the down payment has to be repaid, homeowners don’t have to pay it back until they sell the house, refinance their mortgage or pay off their primary mortgage.
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Aurora households and residents are eligible for down payment assistance if they’re making less than 120 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), an estimate of the average annual salary in a metro area or county calculated each year by the federal government. Aurora shares the same AMI as Denver as they’re part of the same metro. For a family of three to earn 120 percent of local AMI and qualify for Aurora’s down payment assistance, the heads of the household would need a combined annual income of less than $151,000. For a family of four, the threshold is less than $168,000.
The program is funded through Proposition 123, which Colorado voters approved in 2022. The ballot measure created a State Affordable Housing Fund in 2023 that has since allocated about $300 million in state sales tax revenue, according to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA). The goal of the the fund is to promote homeownership throughout the state and prevent homelessness.
According to the City of Aurora, it applied to DOLA for funding for the down payment program. The money from the State Affordable Housing Fund has also gone to cities, counties and nonprofits like Denver, Boulder and the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless for outreach, planning and similar homebuyer support programs.
In November, the Aurora Regional Navigation Campus, a 255-bed homeless shelter and resource hub near DIA, opened with the help of a $15.3 million grant from DOLA.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Aurora has about 93,000 homeowners, which accounts for 61 percent of households in the city.
With shorter buildings and bigger lawns, Aurora has more of a suburban feel than Denver, and is considered the most diverse city in the metro. Interested potential home buyers can apply online or reach the program’s team by email at brcarter@auroragov.org or by calling 303-739-7900.
