HONOLULU – The University of Hawaii last week announced a new down payment assistance program with Landed aimed at helping UH faculty and staff buy homes in Hawaii.

The down payment assistance and homebuyer education partnership with Landed, which previously introduced the program to the Hawaii Department of Education, provides half of the down payment on a home up to $120,000 per family, in exchange for a portion of the change in the value when the home is sold.

Landed’s down payment support will be available to all UH employees who have worked for any part of the University of Hawaii system for at least two years.

“As the cost of housing in Hawaii continues to rise, too many of our faculty and staff are finding it harder to afford homes,” said UH President David Lassner.

“We believe Landed will be a valuable option to help some of our employees to live in the communities that they serve.”

Landed’s work in Hawaii launched in May for K-12 educators as part of the Hawaii Executive Conference adopting the Hawaii Community Foundation’s CHANGE Framework, a commitment to collaborate to help address some of Hawaii’s most pressing issues.

So far, three Hawaii educators have already purchased homes with Landed’s down payment support, and more than 600 interested K-12 educators in Hawaii have attended Landed informational events or reached out online.

Since its founding in 2015, Landed has already helped more than 200 educators purchase homes in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Denver and Seattle.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which helped connect Landed with community partners in Hawaii, is an investor in Landed’s housing funds.

“We are thrilled to expand Landed’s homebuying resources to higher education in Hawaii and look forward to connecting directly with faculty, staff and their families,” said Landed Co-founder Alex Lofton.

“As the son of a school teacher and a social worker in the Seattle area, I know firsthand the struggles that many families go through to build financial security in expensive communities. Landed hopes to be a support system to help all educators and staff feel more secure in their financial future.”

Interested homebuyers can use this program in conjunction with a mortgage from any of Landed’s partner lenders: First Hawaiian Bank, Bank of Hawaii, American Savings Bank, and Central Pacific Bank.

Interested employees can get more information and apply at landed.com.

A series of informational sessions for faculty and staff to learn more about the program will be held the week of October 7.

The Maui session will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 9, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the University of Hawaii Maui College. Interested educators can RSVP at www.landed.com/Hawaii.

Landed is a San Francisco-based company helping essential professionals build financial security near the communities they serve.

Landed partners with schools, districts, universities and community organizations to provide down payment support to educators. Visit www.Landed.com for details.