Rosa Hawkins, a member of the New Orleans Dixie Cups, purchased her home through a home program called "Raisin' the Roof," a New Orleans area initiative designed to help struggling artists get rid of the housing blues by putting a roof over their heads.

That's because musicians and artists are an important cultural resource that helped shape the town where jazz was born and the housing program helps keep artists in town and sheltered.

Created by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, Inc. (NOJHF), Hibernia National Bank, Dryades Savings Bank, the city of New Orleans, the Finance Authority of New Orleans and Fannie Mae, the new initiative has helped house three musicians in their first home and has 38 applicants, 14 people enrolled in home buyer training classes and seven on the class waiting list.

Performing artists are virtually always self-employed with unpredictable incomes, which makes it difficult to underwrite loans for them.

"Being in the business, I see the difficulties artists face in trying to secure loans and make plans to settle down," said Sharon Martin a vocalist and one of NOJHF's program directors.

"Salaries and 'gigs' fluctuate so much that, without a steady job, it's very hard to make concrete, solid monetary plans that call for a long-term monthly expense, especially plans of owning a home. This is the largest big-ticket item most people face in their lifetimes," Martin adds.

A music minister and school teacher, Steven Alfred recently moved into his new home in eastern New Orleans.

"I'm still in shock about being a homeowner," he says.

NOJHF promotes, preserves and encourages the arts in New Orleans and to help make "Raisin' the Roof" work, it is providing $25,000, or up to $2,500 per home, as assistance for down payments. Funding is provided, in part, from the sale of New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival posters produced by Art 4 Now.

The Hibernia and Dryades provide first mortgages and work with NOJHF to develop new homes. Hibernia also provides no-interest construction loans.

The city throws in "soft" second mortgages -- of up to $25,000 or 28 percent of the home's price for qualified low- to moderate-income buyers. The mortgages are called "soft" because they are deferred loans the city forgives if the buyer remains the home for 10 years.

Fannie Mae is adding a $10,000 grant to assist with down payment and closing costs. There are no income limits for the program, but only buyers at or below 80 percent of New Orleans median-income level ($12,000 to $40,000, based on family size) may receive the city's soft-second mortgages. Participants also attend home buying workshops and receive finance counseling throughout the home ownership process and must have reasonably good credit and $1,500 minimum in a savings or checking account.

Homes purchased can be anywhere in the city, not just areas or neighborhoods targeted for development programs.

"In my 30 years of banking, "Raisin' the Roof" is the first affordable-housing program I've seen that targets the music industry, and it's become a model for other cities," says Willie Spears, a program founder and president of Hibernia Community Development Corp., a not-for-profit subsidiary of Hibernia.

"Officials from Austin, Texas, among other cities, have contacted us about establishing a similar program," Spears added.