Rural Housing Blog

National Rural Housing Coalition member organization, Self-Help Housing Corporation of Hawaii (SHHCH) hosted a ground breaking ceremony on June 21, 2017 in Waianae. Twelve families are set to begin construction on their new homes, and once the Pokai Bay Project is completed, there will be 70 Mutual Self-Help built homes in the community.

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SHHCH is a nonprofit organization that provides technical assistance to low-income families in Hawaii that enables the families to build their own homes through the team self-help housing method. Over the past 52 years, SHHCH has helped families develop 656 homes in Hawaii with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Mutual Self-Help Housing program.

With the Mutual Self-Help Housing program, teams of 6 to 12 families are paired together to help build each other’s homes. With SHHCH, each family contributes 16 hours of labor each weekend over the course of a year to complete construction. No family moves in until all of the homes for the group are completed. SHHCH works with the families to secure the necessary financing from the government, including the Section 502 Direct Home Loan program, other nonprofit organizations, and private lenders. The families earn “sweat equity” by working to build their own homes the, thereby reducing purchase and construction costs.

Mutual Self-Help Housing is an innovative and essential program for low-income families across America. Because the families are able to earn sweat equity, families earning under 80 percent of the area median (AMI) income are able to become homeowners. In fact, in the Waianae community, 58 of the 70 self-help homes will be specified for families earning 80 percent of the AMI and 12 homes will be for families earning 50 percent of the AMI. The median price for a previously-owned home on Oahu is $745,000. Comparatively, these self-help families will purchase their homes in fee-simple for $295,000.

SHHCH purchased the land that the 70 homes will sit on in 2013 for $6.2 million, including $3.1 million from the Hawaii Housing Finance Development Corporation. In addition, the Rural Community Assistance Corporation contributed $3.2 million and the Housing Assistance Council contributed $2.5 million.

Attendees at the ground breaking included Hawaii State Senator Maile Shimabukuro; Hawaii State Representative Cedric Gates; SHHCH Construction Supervisor Joseph Ching; Hawaii Housing Finance & Development Corporation Development Manager Rick Prahler; SHHCH Executive Director Claudia Shay; Hawaii Housing Finance & Development Corporation Executive Director Craig Hirai representing Governor David Ige; and Sandeth “Ali” Sek representing U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard.

Governor Ige, the Hawaii State House of Representatives, and Representative Gabbard all presented certificates in recognition of the project.

For more information on this project, please see Andrew Gomes’ article, Ohana homebuilding project breaks ground in Waianae, in the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

For more information about the Self-Help Housing Corporation of Hawaii, please contact Claudia Shay, Executive Director, at selfhelphawaii@gmail.com.

Greystone Affordable Development, an affordable housing development company and a member of the National Rural Housing Coalition (NRHC), and Winterwood, Inc., a property management company, recently celebrated the reopening of 18 newly-renovated affordable housing communities in Kentucky. All of the properties were financed through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Section 515 program and ranged from 12 to 60 units per property. In total, 563 units located in 14 counties were included in the recapitalization and rehabilitation project, which was completed in just 12 months. Greystone worked with Winterwood, USDA’s Rural Housing Service (both the Washington, D.C. and Kentucky State Offices), the Kentucky Housing Corporation, and the Community Affordable Housing Equity Corporation to secure the necessary financing, which totaled $65 million. Rural Development’s Multifamily Preservation and Revitalization Program was essential to the project, and contributed to a $22 rent decrease per unit. Nearly half of the rehabilitated units (253 units) used energy incentives and rebates through the Louisville Gas and Electric Company and the Kentucky Utilities Company, increasing the energy efficiency of these units by 30 percent. Greystone Affordable Development, an affiliate of Greystone & Co., Inc., is a leader in the development, recapitalization, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable rural rental housing. Including the recently completed Kentucky project, Greystone has managed the preservation and rehabilitation of over 8,200 rental units and has another 5,800 in various stages of completion. For more information about the project and the grand opening, please see Greystone’s press release.

Rural Organizations from across the country wrote to Congress, voicing opposition to the Administration’s proposal to eliminate the Under Secretary for Rural Development and funding for rural development programs.

Washington, D.C.—June 12, 2017— Today, nearly 600 organizations sent a letter to Congress opposing the Administration’s proposal to eliminate the Under Secretary for Rural Development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The letter also lamented draconian cuts to rural development programs in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Budget request that would severely impact people from economically distressed rural communities. Signatures came from organizations located all around the country, and included community development organizations; nonprofit housing developers; state and national trade associations; farmer and agriculture cooperatives; affordable housing organizations; city governments; universities; and tribal governments. “Rural Development has a proven track record of success in providing targeted support in the form of technical assistance grants and direct financial assistance to America’s hardworking rural families,” said Bob Rapoza, executive secretary of the National Rural Housing Coalition. “Even so, rural Americans still face significant challenges to economic prosperity.” Rural communities have higher poverty rates and higher rates of unemployment when compared to big cities and suburbs. The families living in these areas also face higher incidences of substandard housing and rent overburden. In addition, over 90 percent of the water systems with a violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act are small systems with 3,300 or fewer users. The FY 2018 Budget request included substantial cuts – or complete eliminations – to almost all of the programs within the Rural Development mission area. Overall in terms of Budget Authority current Rural Development programs is cut buy $867 million or 31 percent. Specifically, the Rural Business programs and the Rural Business and Cooperative Service, as well as Rural Water and Wastewater Loans and Grants are completely eliminated. In addition, virtually every direct loan or grant program under the Rural Housing Service, including the Mutual Self-Help Housing program, the Section 502 Direct loan program, and the Section 515 Multifamily Housing Loan program, are eliminated as well. The USDA reorganization plan, announced in early May, would eliminate the Under Secretary for Rural Development – the only subcabinet position focused exclusively on assisting low-income rural and farming communities. The proposal claims that this elimination will “elevate” the Rural Development mission area by reporting directly to the USDA Secretary, however the Administration’s FY 2018 Budget request suggests otherwise. “By eliminating the Under Secretary for Rural Development and eliminating funding for two dozen housing and rural development programs and rescissions for Fiscal Year 2017 as well—the Administration is clearly turning its back on rural families and the communities where they live,” Rapoza said. “If the Budget request is approved and the reorganization proposal moves forward rural communities will not receive the quality of assistance and resources needed to prosper,” Rapoza said. “This letter sends a message to Members of Congress that if they intend to meet rural communities’ needs, a strong Rural Development mission area is required.” The letter was circulated by the National Rural Housing Coalition and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. It has been shared with the House and Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committees. For more information about rural housing and community development, please visit the National Rural Housing Coalition’s webpage. To view the Press Release on PR Newswire, please click here.

On April 25, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Promoting Agriculture and Rural Prosperity in America.” The executive order includes seven sections. Section 1 outlines the importance of having a secure and affordable food, fiber, and forestry supply for the country, and that the promoting rural communities is in the national interest. Section 1 also states that it is in the country’s interest to ensure that regulatory burdens do not hamper food, agricultural production, and job creation in rural communities. Section 2 calls for the creation of the “Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity,” which will be funded and administratively supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), as permitted by law and appropriations. Section 3 details the membership of the task force. The USDA Secretary will serve as the Chair. Section 4 provides the purpose of functions of the task force. The task force is directed to identify legislative, regulatory, and policy changes to promote rural America. There are 13 general issues that are identified in the executive order. These include advancing the adoption innovative technology for agriculture production and sustainable rural development, expanding educational opportunities in rural areas, empowering state and local agencies to tailor their rural economic development and agriculture programs to meet their region’s need, promote the preservation of family farms and agribusinesses, and improve food safety, among others. The remaining sections are administrative in nature, with Section 5 directing the USDA Secretary to submit a report to the President within 180 days on the task force’s recommendations on policy or legislative changes. Section 6 revokes the executive order signed by President Obama establishing the White House Rural Council. Section 7 provides that the executive order does not affect the existing authority of any department or agency, current law, or confer any new rights or benefits. While the task force is directed to identify changes in policy or law that will “promote . . . economic development, . . . infrastructure improvements, . . . and quality of life” and the executive order includes 13 enumerated areas of focus, notably absent is any explicit directive on – or reference to –   rural housing and water and wastewater services. There is no mention of housing or homeownership or rental housing, and the only reference to “water” relates to water users’ private property rights. Additionally, although the executive order states that the task force should “respect the unique circumstances of small businesses that serve rural communities,” the President’s skinny budget for 2018 calls for the elimination of the USDA’s Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBCS). The RBCS offers programs that support business growth development and job training opportunities for rural Americans by partnering with private sector local lenders and community based organizations to provide much needed capital in rural areas. RCBS also has several cooperative programs to help rural residents develop ways to create new systems to distribute their products and supplies and improve existing systems through education and technical assistance. Addressing the economic and community development needs of rural America will require a holistic approach. And while the task force is directed to “remove barriers to economic prosperity and quality of life in rural America,” the enumerated policy points focus almost entirely on agricultural production and agribusiness. A “reliable workforce” for those rural businesses must have access to safe, clean, and affordable housing, water systems, and community facilities.

  Three hundred seventy-three organizations and 657 individuals have signed onto a letter in support of funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development (RD) programs that provide essential assistance to America’s rural and small town communities for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018. The FY 2017 House and Senate Agriculture Appropriation Bills, H.R. 5054 and S. 2956 respectively, provided funding for USDA’s Rural Housing Service (RHS) and water and wastewater programs that would allow RD and its nonprofit partner organizations to continue to improve access to affordable and safe housing and community facilities for families in rural America. The sign-on letter asks for the House and Senate Appropriation Committees to support the funding levels included in their FY 2017 bills. Specifically, the letter identifies several program priorities, including the Section 502 Direct Home Loan program, the Section 523 Mutual Self-Help Housing program, Section 515 Rural Rental Housing Loan program, Sections 514 and 516 Farmworker Housing Loan and Grant programs, and the water and wastewater loan and grant programs. The Section 502 Direct Loan program exclusively targets rural families who earn less than 80 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), and by law, 40 percent of all program funds must be used to help families earning less than 50 percent of AMI. In FY 2016 alone, RHS provided over 7,000 loans and the demand for this program continues to grow. The letter recommends a program level of $1 billion for the Section 502 Direct Loan program. This is the amount provided in H.R. 5054, and a $100 million increase over the FY 2016. The Section 523 Mutual Self-Help Housing program provides grants to qualified organizations to oversee and provide technical assistance to local self-help housing construction projects for low- and very-low income families. The grantees oversee small groups of 6 to 12 families that come together on nights and weekends to build their own homes. In doing so, Self-Help Housing families can reduce construction costs, earn equity in their homes, and build lasting communities. Self-Help Housing encourages self-reliance and hard work, helps families build wealth, stimulates local economies, and is in high demand with over 50,000 families currently on wait lists for the program. This program has a proven record of helping low- and very-low income families achieve homeownership. The letter recommends funding Section 523 at $30 million, which is the level included in H.R. 5054. RHS also includes programs that provide much-needed access to affordable rental housing. Today, approximately 416,000 rural seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income families—earning just $13,600 each year on average—live in rental housing financed with USDA Section 515 Rural Rental Housing Loans. The letter recommends funding the Section 515 program at $40 million for FY 2018, as included in S. 2956. S. 2956 also included several other notable changes to the Section 515 program that are designed to develop solutions to address the issues created by maturing 515 mortgages. The provisions direct the Secretary to implement provisions and provide incentives to facilitate the transfer of USDA multifamily properties to nonprofit organization and public housing authorities. The Senate bill further recommends a new pilot program for grants to qualified non-profit organizations and public housing authorities to provide technical assistance to USDA multifamily housing borrowers to facilitate the acquisition of RHS multifamily properties by non-profit housing organizations and public housing authorities. The letter recommends the inclusion of these provisions for FY 2018. The Section 514 and 516 Farm Labor Housing Loan and Grant programs provide critical low-cost loans and grants to help build, improve, and preserve affordable housing for America’s farmworkers, who suffer from extremely high levels of poverty and who frequently live in substandard, crowded conditions. The letter requests funding for the Farm Labor Housing programs at $8.4 million for Section 516 grants and $23.8 million for Section 514 loans for FY 2018 – these levels were included in both H.R. 5054 and S. 2956, and are consistent with the funding levels in past years. Finally, USDA’s Water and Wastewater programs also provide critical resources to rural communities with severely limited access to a clean and affordable water supply. Communities along the U.S./Mexico border, on Native American lands, and in the Appalachian region are at an especially high risk of water insecurity, as are communities with a high number of farm workers. Without access to USDA’s Water and Wastewater loans and grants, rural communities are often unable to meet the basic health and development needs of its residents. In recognition of this great need, the letter recommends $546 million for water-waste water loans and grants, as included in S. 2956. To read the letter and see the list of signers, please click here for the letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee and Agriculture Subcommittee Chairmen and Ranking Members, and here for the letter to the House Appropriations Committee and Agriculture Subcommittee Chairmen and Ranking Members.

On Tuesday, April 4, the National Rural Housing Coalition (NRHC) released its 2017 Impact Report. The report, which was funded through the generous contribution of Capital One, included the findings from the 2017 Impact Survey as well as the success stories from 23 rural housing organizations. The purpose of the Impact Report is to inform policy makers and the public of the broad economic and human impact of nonprofit housing organizations – and the programs that they utilize. The survey asked organizations to respond to seven categories, including homeownership activities, rental housing activities, and clean water and sewer activities. In addition, the survey also asked for organizations that provide housing counseling, technical assistance, or are Community Development Financial Institutions, Community Development Corporations or Intermediaries to respond on their activities. The survey analyzed data from 104 organization of their activity in Fiscal Year (FY) 2016. In FY 2016, the 104 responding nonprofit housing organizations helped low-income families and communities secure $1 billion in financing to build, purchase, preserve, or rehabilitate 6,505 units of affordable housing and improved access to rural water and sewer systems for 138,115 of families. This resulted in the creation of 13,920 jobs, over $816.43 million generated income, and $442.2 million in tax revenue. Other key findings from the report include:

• 84 organizations assisted 3,139 families in rural communities with rehabilitating, constructing, or purchasing their homes. Further, there were 24,104 families on the waiting lists of 26 organizations.
• 59 organizations helped 378 families participating in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Mutual Self-Help Housing Program. These families contributed over $6.885 million in sweat equity by assisting each other in the construction of their homes – averaging $18,215 per family.
• 22 organizations developed, constructed, preserved, or rehabilitated 2,859 rental housing units.
• 4 organizations secured over $92 million in financing for 106 water or sewer projects for construction of new systems, repairing or replacing existing systems, consolidating systems, or addressing regulatory compliance issues and provided technical assistance on 97 projects, totaling some $64.35 million.

NRHC presented the findings from the Report at a briefing on the Hill in the Capitol Visitor Center on the evening of April 4. In addition to the findings from the briefing, five organizations presented on case studies that are included in the report. Their presentations are provided below.   Marty Miller, the Executive Director of the Office of Rural and Farmworker Housing in Yakima, WA, presented on the Esperanza Development, which serves the farmworker community Mattawa, WA. This project was funded by USDA Section 514 and 516 farmworker housing programs, as well as over $1 million in additional funding from the Washington State Housing Trust Fund. Esperanza Presentation, April 4, 2017.   Julie Bornstein, the Executive Director of the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition, presented on the Los Jardines community. This community, located in Coachella, CA, is made up of 205 single-family homes constructed through the Mutual Self-Help Housing program. The homeowners worked together in groups of 10 to 12 families for 10 to 12 months for 40 hours per week to build their homes, earning sweat equity equivalent to a down payment in the process. Los Jardines Presentation, April 4, 2017.     Karen Speakman, the Deputy Director of NCALL Research, Inc., presented on the Chandler Heights II preservation project, in Seaford, DE. The 24 unit property was constructed in 1992 with a Section 515 Loan. The rental units needed significant overhaul due to water damage, poor drainage, and other issues. Today, in addition to new roofs, siding, and other upgrades, Chandler Heights II has 4 new 1 bedroom units and a handicap accessible playground. Chandler Heights II Presentation, April 4, 2017.   Selvin McGahee, the Executive Director of Florida Non-Profit Housing, Inc., presented on the Casa San Juan Bosco II development. After Hurricane Charley devastated Desoto County, FL, the Catholic Charities and Diocese of Venice reached out to FNPH to address the loss of housing in the area. Using USDA Section 514 and 516 and financing from the Florida Housing Finance Agency, FNPH developed 53 single-family rental homes for farmworkers and their families. Casa San Juan Bosco II Presentation, April 4, 2017.     Kathy Tyler, Housing Services Director at Motivation Education & Training, Inc., presented on a single-family housing rehab project. The home was owned by a farmworker family made up of parents and two children. The home had holes in the walls and a dirt floor. Construction was provided by farmworker construction trainees enrolled in the Southwest Texas Junior College and funding from the Department of Labor-National Farmworker Jobs Program, HUD and USDA, as well as other state and local sources. Farmworker Home Rehab Presentation, April 4, 2017.