Housing Counseling in Rural America
Print copy: $7.00
Examines differences between rural and urban housing counseling needs, describes some of the counseling programs presently used in rural areas, and discusses possible ways of measuring counseling’s effectiveness.
1997, 114 pages, ISBN 1-58064-003-6
Housing for Families and Unaccompanied Migrant Farmworkers
Print copy: $4.00
Through case studies, examines the need for and availability of housing suitable for migrant farmworkers traveling with families or unaccompanied.
1997, 56 pages, ISBN 1-58064-005-2
Rural Housing and Welfare Reform: HAC’s 1997 Report on the State of the Nation’s Rural Housing
Cost for print copy: $6.00
Analyzes data on income, demographics, and housing conditions for all rural residents and for those receiving welfare before welfare reform took effect.
1997, 72 pages, ISBN 1-58064-060-5
Self-Help Housing Development Process in Rural Areas
Print copy: $3.00
Describes the mutual self-help process from start to finish. Best practices illustrate land acquisition issues, management of self-help building groups and ways to secure affordable permanent financing.
1997, 54 pages, ISBN 1-58064-026-5
Developing land for affordable housing is not easy. Rising land and infrastructure costs make it difficult for developers to create homeownership opportunities for families. Now, in a time of dwindling resources, a new program has been created to purchase and develop sites for self-help housing developers and the families they serve. The Self- Help Homeowners hip Opportunity Program, created by the Housing Opportunity Program Extension Act of 1996, opens the door to more funds for site development.
Describes some partnerships between tribes and lenders to produce privately funded housing on trust lands.
1996, 19 pages, ISBN 1-58064-017-6
In the Summer 1996 issue of Rural Voices, Maureen Kennedy, Administrator of the Rural Housing Service, spotlights RHS’s efforts to increase homeownership through their housing programs, and examines the partnerships organizations have farmed to improve homeownership rates.
In the title article, “Robie’s House,” the Spring 1996 issue of Rural Voices describes one approach to building homes affordably. In addition this issue celebrates the accomplishments of rural programs in both Texas and Vermont. We also highlight the efforts of our rural housing workshop partnet; the Rural Community Assistance Program (RCAP), to empower communities and improve infrasftructure. Finally, we have some words to say about the new rules goveming the Community Reinvestment Act and some of the changes affecting the Rural Housing Service’s Section 502 Homeownership program.
The cover story reviews HAC’s twenty-five year commitment to rural housing and how issues facing the development of affordable housing have been managed. We look at the accomplishments and improvements that have been made; however, we emphasize that all the good work and projects completed over the years have not gotten us to the final stages of solving affordable rural housing dilemmas. Nonetheless, the numerous people who have worked in this field have laid the foundation for a more productive future.
This issue also takes a good look at how some innovative people in Texas are trying to solve the problems that occur in colonias along the U.S/Mexican border; how Native American loan packagers help build links between Indian reservations and federal monies; and how rural housing development’s future is in line with the development of the information superhighway.
The first issue of Rural Voices highlights the struggles of farmworkers to find decent, affordbale housing in rural America. The magazine also features stories about empowering people through self-help housing and the Government’s direct lending programs.