By Dayo Olopade

For many people, the prospect of owning one’s own home offers the sweet satisfaction of seeing down a foundation in one place. Yale’s New Haven Homebuyer Program operates on the philosophy that good foundations make good neighbors. Since 1994, the initiative has allowed over 700 individuals affiliated with Yale—faculty, staff , and their families—to benefit from partially subsidized housing within certain districts of New Haven. The program offers Yale employees $25,000 in assistance over ten years, if applicants elect to buy homes within the city government’s “Empowerment Zone” neighborhoods. Because the program’s payout is the same regardless of the home’s cost, lower-income households can gain the most from the arrangement. Eighty percent of those who have participated in the initiative are first time homeowners, according to statements from Yale. Yale managers of the program will continue expanding the regions of the city where it offers support, and hope that the continued success of the initiative will give school employees a stake in their city’s development that will benefit all of New Haven. At No. 4 Frances Kingsley Drive, one of Yale’s more familiar faces has just moved in. Meet Annette Tracey, the infamous “Berkeley Bouncer” of the college dining hall and the 700th homebuyer since the program’s inception, as we discuss what her new home means to her.

Where is your original home?
I’m from Montego Bay in Jamaica. I came to America on October 31st—Halloween Day,1981. I was coming to be with my husband. I saw the people dressed up in Kennedy[Airport] and said, “That’s the way people dress in America? I’m going back!”

What places in America have you called home in the past?
I came straight to New Haven. I lived on Huntington Street, across from Albertus Magnus for about five years. Then I moved to Dwight Street from 1987 until now. I was renting, and had a great landlord in Jacobs and Associates. And it’s more now than when I was renting. But this is my third and final address…possibly final.

How does the Yale Homebuyer Program work?
Well I got started by taking housing and home ownership classes offered by Yale. They teach you how to prepare yourself, budget yourself, check your credit score, do taxes, and handle a mortgage. They teach you about buying a house. Someone from a bank came. There were different sessions run through the program. Yale doesn’t make you take it, but you need to
know those things.

How do you like your new house?
It’s great. I ended up in a single-family home. There is lots of space; four bedrooms, three bathrooms. I closed at the end of July and moved in August 1st. It was intense but I did it. It’s a new area; I was living on Dwight for years so that’s so familiar to me, but it’s a stone’s throw to the old neighborhood and just a ten-minute walk to go to work, so I’m happy about that. This neighborhood is nice. There’s a police station going up at the end of the street and the health center behind it. There’s a slow process in decorating, too. I do gardening—I have to do landscaping now! And electricity bills and taxes and sewage. Having a house is really different.

Has the Homebuyer Program affected your relationship to New Haven?
I feel an accomplishment in buying a house because that’s the highest you can go. It’s progress. And change is good. I would have done it some way but it was a great asset for Yale to give support. I figure New Haven now is my home. It always was and definitely is now that I own a piece of it.

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