We hope you saw Saturday's Oregonian, which had a great story about one of the tools the Portland Housing Bureau uses to help first-time homebuyers in our community.

It's called the Mortgage Credit Certificate, and it's a valuable tax credit available to buyers who take a homebuyer education class and meet income requirements.

The Portland Housing Bureau, Connie Potter writes, is the only agency in Oregon to offer the program. Since 2008, 158 people have been approved for the credit.

In Portland, 60% of whites but only 33% of African American and 38% of Hispanics live in owner-occupied homes.

PHB's Jon Gail told Potter that the mission of the program is to encourage more people of color to buy homes. "It's important that we bring every resource we have to close that gap," he said, "so they know that Portland is a place where we have extra programs to help all people buy a home."

Visit PHB's website for more.