Corporate Champion: HomeStreet Bank helps low-income individuals find homes - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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The extra effort toward achievinb that goal is a key reason whythe Seattle-based bank has received the Healthyu Community Corporate Champion for Basic Needs award from the Puget Sound Business Journal and . HomeStreet offers mortgage products and bankinyg services in the greatere PugetSound area, the Portland area and Hawaii, but it also focuseds its corporate giving to help individuals of all economic stripesz get into homes or low-incomer rentals within the community it said Kathryn Williams, HomeStreet’s director of community The company has administered $5.
2 million in 18 separatwe housing grants, each to projectd that provide housing to help low-income individuals, the homeless, domesticc violence victims and people suffering from addiction gain a strongere foothold in society. In total, HomeStreegt worked with eight different organizationxs in administering the funds from thein 2008. In additiomn to this effort, the company donatedr $287,715 in support of housintg needslast year, and worke with 40 additional organizations to meet housing needs in the The commitment to assuring that people can afforcd a home runs deepedr than the partnerships HomeStreety has with affordable housing providers, said Williams.
Even durintg the frenzied housing boom of 2005 and HomeStreet shied away from the mortgage products that entices prospective homeowners into homesthey couldn’t afford, she “We decided early on that we shouldn’t be doing these loans,” said Williams. “Thesew loans didn’t make sense to HomeStreet also works with organizations to offer financialo literacy classes to prospective homeownersx so they understand the commitments and better manage their The bank offered 85 such classesin 2008, includinf some in Spanish. It’s just not the top executivesz within the organization who are devoted to provid basic needs withinthe community, said Williams.
The employees in 2008 volunteerexd morethan 5,000 hours of service with various organizations, includingf Habitat for Humanity-King County, and other Habitat Marty Kooistra, executive director of , said that HomeStreet has contributee both money and staff to projectsw that have put 136 families in homezs since the chapter bega n in 1986. HomeStreet has also contributed $25,000 toward Habitat’s efforts every year, he “It’s been pretty Kooistra said of HomeStreet’s support. Asided from this, HomeStreet has also helped market Habitat’s home improvement served on boards and worked on and even donated office furniture tothe non-profit.
“HomeStreetr has been one of those above andbeyond groups,” Kooistra “Every time we ask, they step up to the They’ve been a real partnee for us.”