At 50, Fredua Agyeman has lived in Howard County for just over a decade, but until recently he could never imagine buying his own home.

Last month, with a big boost from county housing programs, the county school custodian made the jump from renting in a county-owned complex to owning a three-bedroom townhouse near the Elkridge library. Two of his children live with him. Daughter Ama, 16, is a full-time student at Howard Community College who joined him at 14 from his original home in Ghana, West Africa. She hopes to pursue a nursing career. His son, Ahia, 23, is also a county school custodian.

"It is my dream," their father said about getting the townhouse. "For 10 years, I have been struggling to get a house." He also sees the move as important for his children.

"Whatever I went through, I don't want my daughter to go through. I'm very grateful to Howard County," he said.

The monthly mortgage payment is $1,040 - just $20 a month more than he was paying in rent, he said.

"It is so marvelous; so wonderful," Agyeman raved. "The neighborhood is also very good. Everyone here is very decent," he said. His home is in a row of three- and four-level buildings.

Agyeman represents a classic success story for county housing officials, because he formerly lived in Guilford Gardens, public housing on Oakland Mills Road that is about to undergo a transformation to an upscale mixed-use community with high-priced houses mixed with those for low-income residents.

With construction approaching next year, Guilford residents were invited to try to qualify to buy other units like the one Agyeman purchased, which was already owned by the county housing commission.

Owning his own home seemed a distant reverie, he said, until he learned about the county's programs that help limited-income working families become homeowners. The home he bought was originally part of a now-defunct program in which buyers shared equity with the county housing commission, which allowed a low enough purchase price to make the unit affordable.

Since banks will no longer finance that type of ownership, the commission sold it to Agyeman and took a second mortgage to lower the price after the original buyer moved out.

The full price was $191,500, county officials said, but the Howard County Housing Commission took a second mortgage for $56,800 of the total, and Agyeman won't have to pay that back until he moves and sells the place. The commission has the first right to buy when that happens. Meanwhile, the family has a decent place to live in and own.

The three-level unit is small but comfortable, Agyeman said. It has a master bath and bedroom on top, with two large bedrooms and a second bathroom on the second level. There is a galley kitchen, half-bath and a small living/dining area on the lower level. There is no basement.

In addition, the county used state loan settlement programs to pay the closing costs, which Agyeman won't have to repay if he keeps working in the county for a decade. The deal made the unit affordable for Agyeman, though it was not part of the county's largest reduced-price housing effort, which is for slightly higher-income families and is called the Moderate Income Housing Unit program.

Agyeman said he taught at a school for deaf children before coming to Maryland in 1998 to better his opportunities. He heard word of mouth on his way to the United States that Maryland was a good place to find work.

He said an acquaintance he rode with from New York stopped in Howard County on the way south and Agyeman decided to stay. He's not sorry.

Unable to get a job teaching the deaf here, he attended a local vehicle mechanic trade school and got a job diagnosing repairs, only to be eventually laid off. He then got his county job in 2007, he said.

He's since returned to trade school to learn more skills so he can qualify for a promotion. He spends the first four hours of his day at the Columbia mechanical trade school, and then works his county job until 10:30 each night.

Before buying the house, he also attended a homeownership counseling program.

The larger Moderate Income Housing Unit Program requires developers in most zones to offer up to 15 percent of new homes, condominiums and rental apartments they build at discounted prices. But new townhouses in that program still typically cost more than $200,000.

This year, the county awarded 12 new homes to qualified buyers under the MIHU program and 65 overall since the program began, officials said. Eventually, the county expects to see 231 reduced-priced units sold from 10 separate developments.

The MIHU program is aimed primarily at middle-income workers with household incomes of about $70,000 to $75,000.

Some affordable-housing advocates say the greater need is for families with incomes below $60,000. As prices for townhouses fall through the upper $200,000s, they argue, more two-income families can buy them without county help.

"I would like to see the program expanded," said William A. Ross, acting chairman of the county housing commission and a veteran housing activist. "It needs to provide more financial assistance to some people; assist families on the margins," he said, explaining that some with minor credit problems are worthwhile buyers. "I don't see that happening," he said.