Four families will soon become homeowners with assistance from the Interfaith Housing Mutual Self-Help Program, USDA Rural Development, and a little sweat equity. Interfaith Housing, a non-profit organization based in South Hutchinson, is partnering with USDA Rural Development to provide technical assistance for families that build their own home.
USDA Rural Development’s Mutual Self-Help Program allows families to work together in groups to build their own home. A public body, or nonprofit organization, coordinates the program by assisting homeowners with: finding lots, developing house plans, working with contractors, coordinating materials, training participants on the skills needed to complete construction tasks, providing construction supervision and assisting families with obtaining a loan to build a self-help home.
“USDA Rural Development is committed to helping rural Kansans have access to affordable, safe housing,” said USDA Rural Development Single Family Housing Director Kent Colwell. “The Interfaith Mutual Self-Help Program will help Reno County families living outside the city limits of Hutchinson to build quality, affordable housing that they wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise.”
In 2014, USDA Rural Development provided Interfaith Housing a $360,000 technical assistance grant to assist 18 families build homes. In this first Interfaith Mutual Self-Help group, three homes will be built in South Hutchinson and one in Partridge. The homes are expected to be completed in approximately nine months. USDA Rural Development is also providing Single Family Housing Direct Loans to the four families in the self-help program, which provides 100 percent financing for home loans.
For more information on USDA’s housing loan programs, contact the Newton Area Office at (316) 283-0370, Ext. 4. Information is also available at www.rurdev.usda.gov/ks
USDA, through its Rural Development mission area, has an active portfolio of more than $204.5 billion in loans and loan guarantees. These programs are designed to improve the economic stability of rural communities, businesses, residents, farmers and ranchers and improve the quality of life in rural America.