Our Borrowers and Partners

In the spring of 2012 a two-story colonial house in East Hartford got a very excited new owner. Jennifer Mathis bought the hundred year old historic home with help from a credit-building loan offered by the Hartford Community Loan Fund (HCLF). The three bedroom house, with its spacious back yard and front porch, is a dream come true for Mathis. “This house means everything to me. Now I have something I can give my kids. I’ve been trying forever [to get a mortgage], but I was always turned down, even for small loans. And every time I applied for mortgages my credit wasn’t where it was supposed to be, or I wasn’t making enough money to qualify to have a home. So this... is the biggest accomplishment of my life.”

Sohodra Dilchand is a Hartford resident of 16 years who acquired a fire-damaged, vacant two-family home in Hartford's Clay Arsenal neighborhood. Hartford Community Loan Fund provided a $170,000 construction-rehab loan to Ms. Dilchand, facilitating the rehab of the historic home.

Rosalind Cobb was shocked the day in June 2013 when she arrived at her home to find a foreclosure notice in the doorway of her 3-family property in Hartford's northend. Cobb had owned the Enfield Street house for more than 20 years, and had been diligent in making payments on time. That is, until the recession. A few years ago, like millions across the country, Rosalind Cobb and her family had experienced a series of hardships: after 31 years with Travelers, she was included in a large round of layoffs, and an adult daughter who rented one of the two apartments upstairs was diagnosed with breast cancer, losing her job after enduring multiple surgeries. The family kept up with bills as best they could, but for a time fell behind on their mortgage and property taxes. While the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) worked with Cobb on her first mortgage, the City liened the property for back taxes, then sold the Cobbs' liens – with hundreds of others - to Florida-based American Tax Funding (ATF). For several years ATF had quietly held the liens – which accrue interest at 18% - and then initiated the foreclosure action. "I was trying to pay ATF some on the delinquent tax bill and also still pay the City on the current taxes," Cobb explained, "and I thought I was set up with ATF to make payments to them. So when I got the letter from their attorney about the foreclosure, I was so confused. I called ATF, but they said they couldn't talk to me since they were taking me to court. They said to look on the back of the summons for a list of places to call for help." Cobb began contacting every organization on the list, but "nobody could help us. They all said they were no longer taking clients for foreclosure, or else they had closed." She learned from local activists that her northend neighborhood was facing a sizeable rash of foreclosures as American Tax Funding had "pulled in its papers." Unsure where else to turn, Cobb even approached Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra at an event in nearby Keney Park. "I didn't know what else to do. My friend encouraged me . . . said the Mayor was a good person and would listen," she said. After an email exchange, Segarra put Cobb in contact with Yasha Escalara, Director of the Housing and Property Management Division for the City of Hartford. Because the City is restricted from providing financing for payment of property taxes, Escalara contacted Hartford Community Loan Fund (HCLF) to see if the Loan Fund might help the long-time Hartford homeowner. 

Jhonny Herrera came to Hartford from his native Peru “with empty pockets and a goal to just work,” he explained on a hot summer day while walking through one of his investment properties.