Community
Development
Alternatives, Inc.
Self-Help Housing
Learn more about Self-Help Housing
If you qualify, or know of someone who might....
Self-Help housing is just as it sounds: Families working together to build their own homes. Families supply the necessary labor while obtaining a Rural Development housing loan to purchase land, materials and subcontract work on technical items. Community Development Alternatives (CDA), as sponsor, will purchase tools and hire staff to coordinate the project and provide construction supervisor or coordinator to instruct the families every step of the way.
Self-Help Particulars:
| Rural Development loans range from 1% to the market rate. |
| Repayment period is 33 to 38 years and no down payment is required. |
| Construction stage lasts 7 to 9 months. |
| Each family must complete at least 65% of the construction labor tasks, until the group of homes are completed. Generally, this is 1,000 to 1,200 hours of labor per family. |
| Families live in comfortable affordable owner-occupied housing. They acquire construction skills, increase job possibilities and live in standard housing. |
| Families generally save $10,000 to $20,000 on their homes by providing their own labor. |
| Working together builds strong neighborhoods and communities. |
We propose to assist 12 families in Crawford County over the next 2 years. The first six families will construct homes in Prairie du Chien with a scheduled start date of September 2004. The second phase will assist six families and those homes may be located in the northern part of the County or in again in the City depending upon response and availability of land. This phase is scheduled to start July 1, 2005.
This project is required to serve households of certain income:
| 40% of households must have income, which is 50% of the County Median Income: |
1-person = $18,500; 2 = $21,150; 3 = $23,800; 4 = $26,450; 5 = $28,550
| 60% of households must have income, which is 80% of the County Median Income: |
1-person = $29,600; 2 = $33,850; 3 = $38,100; 4 = $42,300; 5 = $45,700
CDA has applied for and received HOME funds from a state housing agency. With these funds we will be in position to ‘write down’ the mortgage to a level at which those with less income will be able to service the resulting mortgage. It allows those households with less income to participate, provided they have credit history indicating an ability and willingness to meet obligations. The money provided to ‘write down’ the mortgage will be secured with a second mortgage at 0% interest and payment deferred so long as the household continues to own and occupy the property.
For more information, call Dale Klemme or Lori Bekkum at (608) 326-7333.
We are an organization that works with families to help build their own homes. The loans are federally subsidized and made by Rural Development. We receive a technical assistance grant from the federal government to help the families build their own homes.
Acceptable credit – we will run a credit report at no cost to you. The lender requires that all collections be paid. We need to look at the type of collections/ judgments if any. If arrangements are made to pay medical collections in full, we can proceed with the application. Any non-medical collections/ judgments could hold up the process for a short time, but once they are paid, we can eventually wok with you, as long as your income qualifies for a loan.
Rural Development determines the amount of the loan for which families are eligible. They determine this by your income versus your debt load (car payment, charge card bills, and loans). Once you have been determined eligible, we work with you to find a lot and house plan that will fit on the lot. Our house plans have been approved b y the federal government. At that point, families are formed into a group with other families and they all work together to build their own homes. We provide construction supervisors to teach our families the building process.
There is no down payment required. You will have equity in the home the day you move in, which we refer to as “sweat equity.” Sixty five percent of the work has to be completed by our families. You are required to work a minimum of 30 hours per week on the construction of the homes (this means the applicant and c0-applicant, if applicable, each are required to put in 30 hours). Families are off on Monday and Friday of each week and are required to work at least 10 hours on Saturday and Sunday. The other hours are to be worked Tuesday – Thursday evenings.
We have subcontractors who do all the electrical, plumbing, heating, excavating, and mason work.
Community Development Alternatives, Inc. does not make the loans. USDA Rural Development is the lending institution.
If you believe that you may qualify for Self-Help Housing, or you know of someone who might, please do not hesitate to call us for further information. We'll answer any questions you may have about the program, or help you fill out an application.
Call Dale Klemme or Lori Bekkum at (608) 326-7333,
or email us at: info@developmentplanning.net