Where: Williams & Arbuckle, Colusa County, California
Problem: Low-income, working families lack access to affordable housing.
Solution: RCAC finances the purchase of finished lots to construct affordable housing through the US Department of Agricul-ture (USDA) Mutual Self-Help Housing program.

For many low-income, working families, the dream of homeownership is out of reach. These families who provide agricultural, hotel and tourism industry labor, and other vital services have incomes too low to qualify for traditional financing. As a result, too many hardworking families are forced to raise their children in substandard housing.

To help these families access safe decent housing, RCAC provides technical assistance and financing to local nonprofit organizations to implement the USDA Mutual Self-Help Housing program. Assistance includes financial and construction management training, loan financing packaging, outreach and marketing and homeownership training for participants.

RCAC’s Loan Fund provided two loans to NeighborWorks Sacramento, a recent self-help grantee.
The organization received a $400,000 loan to construct 20 self-help homes in Williams, Colusa County, California. Williams is a rural community with 5,123 resi¬dents located 60 miles north of Sacramento. Service industries and agriculture are the community’s main economic drivers.

The loan will be used to acquire 20 finished lots, which are already identified for the project. Under the self-help program NeighborWorks will work with two groups of 10 families.

A $551,500 loan funded the purchase of 13 finished lots for a self-help project in Arbuckle, Colusa County, California. Arbuckle is a rural community with 3,028 residents. It is located 20 miles from Woodland, the largest area shopping and employment center. Agriculture is Arbuckle’s main economic driver.

As with all self-help housing projects, participants are required to provide at least 65 percent of the labor to build their home and their neighbors’ homes. They work 35 hours per week, in addition to their day jobs, for almost a year. This “sweat equity” is contributed in lieu of a down payment, creating an affordable mortgage.

During 2015, families, nonprofit organizations and USDA across the country celebrated the 50,000 dreams of homeownership realized during the 50 years of the program.