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Down Payment Resource Adds Three Across Lender And Housing Agency Teams

Oct 07, 2026
Melissa Roy, April Espinosa, and Jeff Smith

New hires bring experience in origination, affordable housing compliance, and lender operations

Down Payment Resource (DPR) has added three team members to support lender partners, down payment assistance programs, and housing finance agencies.

The Atlanta-based company named Melissa Roy, partner solutions engineer; April Espinosa, down payment assistance programs specialist; and Jeff Smith, housing finance agency (HFA) relationship manager.

Roy will guide enterprise partners from initial discovery through implementation of DPR’s technology. She brings nearly a decade of experience across product management, sales, origination, and operations, including roles as a senior loan officer at Lima One Capital and a mortgage product manager at United Community. She also spent six years as a mortgage banker and office manager at Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group.

Espinosa joins DPR’s Community Programs team after more than five years as a housing portfolio specialist for the City of Tampa. There, she managed compliance activities for a housing portfolio exceeding $100 million and oversaw mortgage servicing and regulatory reporting across single-family and multifamily housing programs.

A HUD-certified housing counselor, Espinosa has also helped homeowners, borrowers, contractors, and community members resolve housing program questions and servicing concerns.

Smith joins DPR’s HFA team with more than 15 years of industry experience, including work with one of the company’s lender partners. His role will support DPR’s relationships with housing finance agencies nationwide.

“Each of these hires brings real, hands-on experience with the borrowers, lenders, and agencies we serve every day,” said DPR CEO Rob Chrane.

The additions span lender implementation, community program support, and housing finance agency relationships — three parts of the work involved in connecting borrowers with available assistance.

In its second-quarter Homeownership Program Index, DPR identified a record 2,746 assistance programs nationwide, up 67 from the first quarter. Of those, 77% were active and funded as of July 1, underscoring the importance of checking funding availability alongside borrower eligibility.

 

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