For many people, purchasing that first home is the financial equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest. The process is made even more difficult in destination areas such as Napa County where housing prices are high and homes are in demand. It’s not uncommon for a house on the market to receive numerous offers. So, what do you do if you are a first-time homebuyer who wants to live in the community in which you work, yet you have limited resources for a down payment?  If you’re smart, you take advantage of Napa County’s Work Proximity Housing Program, the brainchild of Supervisor Mark Luce.

“Our workers have a hard time competing for housing because they are competing against a world market where people can afford to pay more for these homes,” Supervisor Luce says. “So we went about trying to figure out how we could assist our low and moderate-income workers who work in Napa, live in Napa.”