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NCALL provides assistance to potential and existing self-help housing organizations in twenty-one states in the mid-Atlantic, northeast, and mid-west United States through a contract with the USDA's Rural Housing Service. Specific services include preapplication, final application, and staff training; program, financial and construction management; attending review meetings; and providing quarterly newsletters and networking opportunities.
Mutual Self-Help Housing is families working together to build their own homes. With the assistance of a skilled staff, an association of generally 4  to 10 families is formed. These families provide at least 65% of the labor necessary to build the homes. Most families use Rural Development's 502 Homeownership Loan Program to finance their homes. This is a low interest loan based on the family's income and is available to low and very low income families in rural areas with good credit history. The families generally save between $10,000 and $20,000 using this sweat equity method. An organization may receive a Section 523 Self-Help Housing Technical Assistance Grant from Rural Development to operate a self-help program. This charges them with the responsibilities of training the families in construction as well as homeownership skills, keeping the families' loan records, ordering the construction materials, choosing the sites and house plans, recruiting the families and keeping them motivated throughout the construction process.
Since receiving our contract in 1983, we have assisted self-help grantees in obtaining more than $30 million of 523 Self-Help Grants which created over 2,800 homes for low income families.
The concept of self-help housing has been around for a long time. It has grown from early barn raisings of the Amish and Mennonites. The American Friends Service Committee was instrumental in starting self-help housing as a way to serve farmworkers in the early 1960's. This program was successful and in 1968 Section 523 Self-Help Housing Technical Assistance grants were authorized. Since that time, over 35,000 homes have been constructed using the self-help method.
Eligibility Requirements
In order to receive a Section 523 Self-Help Housing Technical Assistance Grant an organization must meet several requirements. They must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit or governmental agency with the "production of affordable housing" as one of its purposes. They must have at least five board members, the financial and administrative capacity to operate the program, and previous experience operating housing programs.
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