Where: Kern County, California
Problem: Low-income families lack access to affordable home ownership opportunities.
Solution: RCAC’s Loan Fund provides financing and RCAC staff work with Self-Help Enterprises through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Mutual Self-Help Housing Program to address the shortage of housing affordable to low-income people.
In San Joaquin Valley, California, the world’s most productive agricultural area, there is an astonishing quantity of inadequate, often dilapidated housing. For most low-income, working families, the dream of homeownership is out of reach. These families who provide the labor that makes Kern County the most productive agricul¬tural area in the country 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 address the affordable housing shortage, RCAC provides technical assistance and financing to local nonprofit organizations to implement the USDA Mutual Self- Help Housing program. RCAC works with local nonprofit organizations to resolve program management and program implementation issues and meet key performance milestones.
In addition, RCAC’s Loan Fund supports the acquisition and development of lots so that families can build their homes. RCAC provided a $952,000 loan to Self-Help Enterprises (SHE) to purchase 28 finished lots in Wasco, California which will be sold to families participating in the self-help program.
Under the self-help program, 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. With RCAC’s support and financing, SHE has helped families achieve the dream of home ownership, building communities in the process.
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.
