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Home Tomorrow and Bank of New Hampshire Partner to Provide Homeownership for Low-Income Family





BEDFORD, New Hampshire (February 5, 2022) - Home Tomorrow, Inc. and Bank of New Hampshire have partnered to provide a low-income family in Manchester with affordable homeownership.


Home Tomorrow, Inc., formerly Greater Manchester Habitat for Humanity, worked for more than 3 years to help a disabled woman and her disabled son, with extremely low income, overcome the barriers of affordable homeownership to purchase a condominium property reconstructed by Home Tomorrow, Inc., a New Hampshire nonprofit organization. Following a disciplined strategy of increased income, restructured debt, austere spending, and credit management, under the guidance of Home Tomorrow and its volunteers, their improved financial condition qualified the first-time homeowners for a $134,000 mortgage with Bank of New Hampshire based on their ability to afford the mortgage. Based on the new homeowners’ ability to afford their new home, Home Tomorrow was able to finance the balance of the $175,000 home purchase price plus closing costs through an interest-free, installment-free, balloon-free deferred loan financed by Home Tomorrow.


“Our dream of making homeownership a reality for our new homeowners would not have been possible without the commitment of Evelyn Whelton, Bank of New Hampshire’s Sr. VP of Retail Lending”, said Michael Courtney, Home Tomorrow’s Executive Director. “Evelyn has been our champion. For months, Evelyn has quietly worked with us ‘outside-the-box’ to help us blend conventional lending principles with our charitable mission strategy that is, both, sustainable and scalable. By refusing to let an otherwise qualified homeowner slip through the cracks, Bank of New Hampshire helped make our community stronger and more stable,” said Courtney.


Also instrumental in its success was the devotion of Home Tomorrow’s volunteers to rehabilitate the home following a fire that gutted the property years ago. “Together with the financial support provided by members of our community, led by New Hampshire Charitable Foundation’s Joan Camann Fund, Walmart, BAE, and First Congregational Church of Manchester, the donations of time, talent and treasure helped to afford the cost of an interest-free, installment-free, balloon-free mortgage,” said Courtney.


“What many people in our community need in this time of hyperinflationary housing”, said Courtney, “is not so much a hand out as much as a hand up. Yes, there were many hurdles to clear along the way”, said Courtney, “but all it takes is thinking outside the box and some elbow grease. We can overcome the economic barriers of affordable housing. We just need to be innovative in the way we meet these challenges and meet people where they are. Through this strategy, our community becomes more stable, stronger and more vibrant, and everyone benefits.”


The new first-time homeowners were handed the keys to their 1,200 square foot 2-bedroom Energy Star-rated condominium on February 4, 2022.



About Home Tomorrow, Inc.


Driven by the vision that affordable housing is possible through community effort, Home Tomorrow began in 1992 as Greater Manchester Habitat for Humanity, with its focus on affordable homeownership. Following the outbreak of the Covid global pandemic in 2020, which disrupted its mission activity, the organization’s leadership reinvented its mission (and its name) with a greater emphasis on “affordable housing” rather than solely homeownership - “to make shelter today into a home tomorrow”. Home Tomorrow distributes to families and individuals in need donated furniture and other home furnishings received free of charge together with its thrift store operation. By partnering with social service agencies to identify their clients’ needs, home furnishings otherwise destined for landfills are graciously donated by the public and channeled to our community’s most vulnerable members through Home Tomorrow on the premise that one person’s “extra” is often another person’s “only”.


Home Tomorrow continues to promote affordable homeownership through innovative solutions, but endeavors to serve a much larger and more vulnerable segment of a community through donated home furnishings. The organization recently lost its 8-year tenancy of its donation center, quietly hidden in an obscure location at Manchester Mills, which was recently sold and slated for demolition, but forges on to operate its mission out of a U-Haul storage facility in Bedford. Through volunteering, financial support, and donations of home furnishings, every member of the community can play an important role in helping families and individuals live in dignity. Through community, our community becomes more stable, stronger, and more vibrant.


Home Tomorrow envisions a scalable community service that provides throughout New Hampshire, New England, and beyond the receiving and redistribution of decent quality, gently used home furnishings to those in need free of charge through partnering social service agencies and providers, received and distributed through “Donation Stations”, 40-foot dry storage trailers located throughout participating communities, which spare local landfills of excess waste. To learn more, visit, www.hometomorrow.org, or call Michael Courtney, Executive Director: 603.626.3944 ext.46



About Bank of New Hampshire


Bank of New Hampshire, founded in 1831, provides deposit, lending and wealth management products and services to families and businesses throughout New Hampshire and southern Maine. With 21 banking offices and assets exceeding $2 billion, Bank of New Hampshire is the oldest and one of the largest independent banks in the state. Bank of New Hampshire is a mutual organization, focused on the success of the bank’s customers, communities and employees, rather than stockholders. For more information, call 1.800.832.0912 or visit www.BankNH.com.


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