December 22, 2021 | Volume 15, Issue 1
A home for the holidays
It is interesting to reflect on the phrase “home for the holidays…” regardless of the cultural holidays you and yours might celebrate. Holidays are always better when celebrated at home. What does home mean to you? It can have so many meanings, depending on your perspective or the context where you insert the word home. Read more
Dear Sher
Was there a Procedural Notice or something that came out allowing people to pay off their bills with excess savings? I’m not sure where I thought I saw something about being able to pay off bills with savings that was over the allowed limit of 15,000. Read more
RCAC is hiring a self-help housing technical assistance provider
Do you have housing, project management and community development skills? Do you want a job that provides plenty of opportunities to learn and grow? Work with our Self-Help team and help increase affordable housing in rural communities across the West. Check out the job description for Rural Development Specialist, Self-Help! Apply here
UL provides temporary authorization for appraisals
An Unnumbered Letter (UL) was issued that provides temporary authorization to accept appraisals obtained by self-help grantees, certified loan application packagers, Agency-approved intermediaries, and leveraged or other participating lenders subject to the outlined conditions. This temporary authorization is needed given the record-high market demand for purchase appraisals and the timeliness issue this demand can cause. The appraisal fee will be an out-of-pocket expense to the applicant but may be reimbursed with loan funds at loan closing.
This temporary authorization is effective as of the date of this UL and expires on Sept. 30, 2022. The full UL is available HERE.
Watch a self-help group enclose a home in one weekend in this time-lapse video
Hawaii Island Community Development Corporation (HICDC)’s Construction Supervisor Keola Kiyuna created this super cool time-lapse video as a gift to the owner-builders, which shows their self-help group’s typical weekend progress. The video shows the families and volunteers closing in one home in one weekend. They will complete this process, rain or shine, another nine times to close in all 10 homes in the group.
“We’ve been faced with a lot of challenges these past few projects with COVID, quarantines, shipping delays, material shortages and price increases just to name a few but still our families persevere. We are very proud of each and every one of them!” said HICDC’s Program Manager Terri Ferreira, as they proudly shared the video. Watch video HERE
The newsletter is published quarterly for the western region self-help network at no cost to subscribers. We encourage correspondence and contributions.
Suzanne Anarde, chief executive officer
Angela Sisco, executive editor
asisco@rcac.org
Sharon Wills, managing editor
swills@rcac.org
Editorial office, West Sacramento, CA (916) 447-2854
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