The FINANCIAL -- Wells Fargo & Company, one of America’s leading community banks and the nation’s largest home mortgage lender, today announced that the NeighborhoodLIFTSM program, a major effort to help stabilize neighborhoods deeply affected by the foreclosure crisis, is coming to Jacksonville.

According to Wells Fargo & Company, the program will include a free large-scale homebuyer workshop on Friday and Saturday, July 27 & 28 at the Prime Osborn Convention Center from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

The NeighborhoodLIFTSM program was created to help communities overcome the dual challenge of high inventories of unsold homes while providing assistance for prospective buyers. In Jacksonville, the program includes a five-year goal of $750 million in mortgage purchase loans by Wells Fargo, and a $7 million investment in 2012 for down payment assistance grants and homebuyer support programs to help consumers achieve successful, sustainable homeownership. Wells Fargo will collaborate with the City of Jacksonville, the non-profit organization NeighborWorks America, and its local partners to implement the program.

“This is an excellent example of public-private partnership that will help build a stronger city one household at a time,” said Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown. “We’re fortunate in Jacksonville to have community partners like Wells Fargo, NeighborWorks America and Family Foundations willing to come together under a single vision with an opportunity for responsible, hard-working Jacksonville residents to grow personal wealth through homeownership. Investments in our neighborhoods are investments in families, our housing market and our economic future.”

Jacksonville is one of four cities in Florida where the NeighborhoodLIFTSM program is being deployed, along with Miami, Tampa, and Orlando. Wells Fargo has committed $30 million to support the NeighborhoodLIFTSM program in 2012 and made a mortgage lending goal of $1.75 billion over five years in the four Florida cities. The cities were selected for the program based on their high concentration of homeowners, foreclosures, delinquencies and overall housing inventory.

“Jacksonville was significantly affected by the housing crisis,” said Scott Coble, Wells Fargo’s Regional President for North Florida. “Today, despite low home prices and historically low interest rates, many Jacksonville families are still unable to purchase a home because they simply cannot afford the down payment. The NeighborhoodLIFTSM program will help address this issue by providing down payment assistance.”

The July 27 and 28 NeighborhoodLIFTSM event is for anyone interested in buying and living in a home in Jacksonville. Down payment assistance of up to $15,000 is available to those who qualify, buy and reside in a home located in the city.

To qualify for down payment assistance that may be applied to a mortgage purchase loan with any lender, applicants must meet certain criteria including annual income not exceeding 120 percent of the median income for the area; an eight-hour homebuyer education session with the approved NeighborWorks America affiliate; a commitment to stay in the home for five years and qualification for a first mortgage on the property.

Related Stories

• Chase Paymentech Europe Helps European Online Merchants Improve Cardholder Data Security
• HSBC is contributing USD100 million to the Water Programme over five years
• Foreign holidays beckon as UK holidaymakers head for the sun