UKIAH, CA., 11/7/26 — Alyssa De Casas and Pablo Torres were renting a room from a friend, not ideal for privacy or for saving money. They had discussed wanting their own home, but whenever they went looking at houses, they came up against the realization that despite both working full-time at good jobs, they could never qualify for a loan. They had no credit and no down payment. The dream of a home felt unattainable.
They were not alone. In August 2026, the California Association of Realtors said that only 22% of Bay Area households can afford the region’s median-priced single-family home. This creates friction in many communities: people working in town cannot afford to buy and are left in an endless spiral of rent and utility costs and diminishing savings.
De Casas and Torres went into Ukiah’s Redwood Credit Union to open a certificate of deposit account, hoping to get decent interest on the little they’d saved. The employee who helped set up the account talked to them about creating a credit history.
“We didn’t have bad credit,” Torres explained. “We had no credit. They helped us get a loan on a car, and we paid that off. That created a history.”
Meanwhile, the couple continued to house-hunt. They wanted a dog but knew as renters, that dream too was impossible. A realtor took them around to see some houses that they could conceivably afford, but no real down payment made even these a stretch. Then the agent mentioned that Redwood Credit Union had a program to assist first-time buyers with a down payment.
Launched in 2025, the Down Payment Assistance program does not have a long history, with four Mendocino County recipients of the aid, providing homes for 10 residents. According to Mishel Kaufman, chief administrative and risk officer with Redwood Credit Union, the average age of the homeowners they’ve assisted is just 27..
The program is unique; the few offered by other financial institutions have a limited amount of funds and often a 60- to 90-day window for applying. Redwood’s program is ongoing, and the credit union seeded it with $1 million to start it off.
Once they heard about the program, De Casas and Torres met with a loan officer and then, as Kaufman says, they began saving aggressively. They moved out of the room they were renting into first Torres’ parents’ home and then De Casas’. They saved every cent that they could.
After 18 months of scrimping, they had saved enough to contribute the required 1% towards a down payment. Working with the realtor and the credit union, they began looking again at houses, and the stock that was available to them with their savings and the down payment assistance of up to $25,000 from the credit union had mushroomed. They were no longer seeing just a couple of houses they might afford, but houses that fit their dreams of neighborhood and space for — yes, a dog.
“Pretty much from the time we got the go-ahead, we looked every weekend,” De Casas said. “It took about a month, and the closing went pretty fast. As soon as we got this house, we got Odie as a puppy. Then because we both work full time, we were worried he’d be lonely, so we got another dog at the shelter. They have plenty of room to run around.”
Torres drives a tool truck, servicing automotive repair shops across Mendocino and Lake counties. De Casas works at a laboratory in Santa Rosa. They had both settled on Ukiah as the place for a permanent home. De Casas said, “Ukiah is growing, with lots of amenities, and the pricing point of houses is a lot better value than in Sonoma County. Ukiah has a small-town feel, but it’s big enough to have a Costco, a Safeway, parks and shopping.”
How it works
According to Mishel Kaufman, potential buyers start with a mortgage lending team, who explain the home-buying process, help determine eligibility for down payment assistance through the RCU Community Fund, and guide buyers at each step. Buyers contribute 1% toward the down payment, and the Down Payment Assistance Program can provide up to an additional 2%, to a maximum of $25,000.
Kaufman explained that for someone wanting to purchase a $500,000 home, that first-time buyer would need to pay $5,000 towards the down payment compared to $100,000 for a traditional 20% down, plus closing costs, which can be considerable. She wrote in an email that the down payment assistance program is geared to “people who believe homeownership isn’t within reach. That includes younger buyers who may have the income to support a mortgage but lack a large down payment, as well as individuals and families buying on a single income. We want people to know that before they rule out the possibility of homeownership, it’s worth having a conversation with us.”
She said that there has been strong interest in the program, particularly among people working in hospitality, construction, nonprofits, healthcare and education. “Many of these folks have long wanted to own a home in the community where they work,” she explained.
The biggest surprise so far: “One thing that has stood out is how often a simple conversation can change someone’s perspective,” Kaufman wrote. “Many assume homeownership is out of reach before exploring their options. Through conversations with our mortgage specialists or financial coaches, buyers discover options they hadn’t considered.”
She said the best first step is to speak with a loan officer to understand eligibility. Once qualified, borrowers can work with a real estate agent to find a home. “We work closely with borrowers throughout the process to help set them up for successful, sustainable homeownership.” The resulting mortgages are flexible, some fixed-rate, some adjustable-rate, depending upon the borrower’s needs.
De Casas said the homebuying experience, which many find confusing or stressful, was surprisingly easy. “We received an answer from the loan officer within a day,” she said. “And Redwood has a series of classes about the process. We watched all the videos, and that was very helpful. All in all, they had an answer to whatever question we asked.”
Torres and De Casas are thrilled with their 1,700-square-foot house on an acre of land. The dogs like it too.