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HAC Funds Over 700 Homes For New Homeowners, Self-Help Program Celebrates Tenth Anniversary |
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The new year brings good news for 741 low-income families around the country as the Housing Assistance Council announces funding to 41 rural community-based nonprofit organizations (listed below). More than half of the amount financed comes from the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program, known as SHOP, which aids families who contribute hundreds of hours of labor towards building their own homes. "For ten years now the Housing Assistance Council has been working with wonderful local partner organizations throughout the country who use SHOP funding to help families build their own homes," said Moises Loza, HAC's executive director. "This year HAC received $5.9 million from HUD, and local groups applied for over $12 million. HAC's local SHOP affiliates can use up to $15,000 per home for eligible development activities such as buying land and extending utility lines. They are responsible for all construction activities, including securing additional funding, preparing sites, training families, and managing the self-help process. "When a local affiliate meets its loan requirements, including completing a certain number of homes, as much as 80 percent of the loan converts to a grant. A new HAC report on its SHOP experience, Through Partnership and Promise: Ten Years of the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program in Rural Communities, is available at www.ruralhome.org. A national nonprofit corporation headquartered in Washington, D.C., and founded in 1971, the Housing Assistance Council helps local organizations build affordable homes in rural America by providing below-market financing, technical assistance, research, training, and information services.
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