Written by: Danna Matheus 🇻🇪
Housing Fair at the Hyattsville Middle School’s gymnasium. Photo by Danna Matheus.
The city of Hyattsville hosted its first Housing Fair at Hyattsville Middle School on Nov. 2 to provide the community with resources for first-time home buyers and renters.
The city partnered with Prince George’s County and the state of Maryland to provide individuals and families with information about programs and resources for down payment assistance, home repair, and guidance for first-time home buyers and renters.
Fidel, a Hyattsville resident, learned about the Housing Fair while volunteering with the city, where he came across a flyer promoting the event.
“We would really like to purchase a home here because it is very close to DC, said Fidel in Spanish. “There was a lot of information (referring to the housing fair) that we didn't know about. Aids and programs that one can apply for.”
The event featured two informative workshops and provided Spanish live translation. The first workshop was hosted by the Housing Initiative Partnership (HIP) for first-time homebuyers, and the second was hosted by Maryland Legal Aid (MLA), titled “Know Your Rights,” designed to empower renters with essential legal knowledge and protections.
Mary Hunter, Director of Housing Counseling and Services at HIP, noted that this was the organization’s first in-person homebuyer orientation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, HIP began offering free virtual homebuyer orientations, held once a month on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Interested individuals can sign up at hiphomes.org.
“HIP is a Housing Urban Development (HUD) approved housing and counseling agency… There are a number of other HUD-approved housing counseling agencies in this county (Prince George’s County), Montgomery County, and all over the country. If you get a certificate from a HUD-approved housing counseling agency, it’s generally good for most of the downpayment and closing cost programs. Whether it is municipal, county, state, or even federal,” said Hunter.
The Know Your Rights workshop from MLA educated renters about their rights, how to respond in case of an eviction notice, and where they can get free lawyers to go to court.
“I really liked the information. Everyone is very open to answering questions. I liked that there was always someone translating. I initially came to get more information about how to buy a home with down payments because we have this idea that we want to stop renting, but coming in here and going to the workshop it really caught my attention with all the resources that I didn't know existed for protection for renters,” Karen Renderos said in Spanish. She is a resident of the city of Beltsville.
David Cristeal, Housing Manager for the City of Hyattsville, attended the Housing Fair alongside the Hyattsville Mayor, Robert Croslin, and the community services team. Photo by Danna Matheus.
According to David Cristeal, the Housing Manager of the City of Hyattsville, the fair had a really good turnout, the workshops were well attended, and people were waiting in line to get through the door.
Cristeal added that the event's success had inspired plans to hold similar fairs in the future. “We got feedback from people saying, ‘Hey, this is a really good idea,’ Maybe we should do something like this in the spring... If there are organizations that we are missing, we can invite them, but yeah, we would love to do it again, maybe in the spring of 2025,” said Cristeal.
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