History

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For over 40 years, HAC has improved the housing conditions for the rural poor with an emphasis on the poorest of the poor in the most rural places. Since its modest beginnings with a $2 million War on Poverty grant in 1971, HAC has been able to successfully fund rural affordable housing, inform sound policy on rural housing programs, build capacity for local housing providers, and become the nation’s foremost source of information on rural housing.

Since the organization’s founding, the loan fund has been at the core of HAC’s overarching mission to improve housing conditions for the poorest of the poor in the most rural places. Central to these activities is a goal of building capacity in local communities to address affordable housing needs.

bandw house

In March 1972, the HAC loan committee approved its first 10 loans, totaling $647,476, to support affordable housing and infrastructure development opportunities in rural communities across the nation. HAC’s early loans were committed to a varied group of housing developers located in diverse, rural communities across the nation. Demonstrating HAC’s ongoing commitment to meeting the needs of the poorest of the poor, the loans supported the development of farmworker housing units in New York State and Texas, as well as newly created self-help housing projects from California to Maryland.

Ultimately, the loans led to the development and rehabilitation of more than 1,000 rental and homeownership units, as well as important infrastructure connections.

As the world of affordable housing finance has become more complex, HAC’s loan fund and its products have evolved to meet those needs.

Throughout the early 1980s, the landscape for affordable housing changed rapidly. An economic recession had shaken the housing market and interest rates had risen drastically. Combined with a rise in challenges for small family farmers, and the massive scaling back or elimination of many government antipoverty programs, the need for an affordable housing response, particularly affordable rental housing, became clear. In 1982 to meet the growing demand for affordable rental properties in the nation’s poorest communities, HAC created a subsidiary, Rural Housing Services, Inc., to develop affordable rental units in partnership with local organizations using tax credits.

As the world of affordable housing finance has become more complex, HAC’s loan fund and its products have evolved to meet those needs.

The 1990s brought a new framework for affordable housing – as direct federal funding for antipoverty efforts decreased, Community Development Financials Institutions, or CDFIs, increased in popularity. In 1996, HAC’s loan fund was transformed with the introduction of the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP). SHOP is a program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), created by Congress, that funds site acquisition and infrastructure development for affordable housing units that will be created through a sweat equity model. Local self-help housing developers receive funding in the form of recoverable grants from HAC to complete these development activities. HAC also officially became a CDFI in 1996, and the size of the loan fund continued to increase.

Today, HAC continues to rise to new challenges. With the collapse of the housing markets in 2008 and the economic recession, home values fell to unexpected lows and foreclosure rates increased steadily. To respond to this crisis, HAC renewed its dedication to capacity building measures through organizational trainings, funding, and research activities.

woman-on-porch-oregonPhoto: CASA of Oregon

For over 45 years, HAC has been at the forefront of providing safe, secure, affordable housing in rural areas. HAC has, and will continue to, meet each new challenge head on to ensure that the poorest of the poor, in the most rural places receive attentionand support through our loan fund, training and technical assistance, and research and information divisions.

Affordable Housing for Rural Veterans – Grantees

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Veterans of the United States military services put their lives in danger to protect their country and its residents. However, when they return home they are not always able to find housing and access to services in their communities. The Housing Assistance Council (HAC), in partnership with The Home Depot Foundation, has created the Affordable Housing for Rural Veterans (AHRV) grant program to provide rural organizations with the financial resources to support their ability to meet or help meet the affordable housing needs of veterans in rural areas.

Highlights of 2017 Grant Activities included small grants for rural nonprofit organizations. HAC made the awards in summer 2017. AHRV grants support bricks-and-mortar projects that help veterans with home repair and rehab needs, support homeless veterans, or help veterans become homeowners, tap into available housing programs and secure affordable rental housing. Grantees are listed below.

2017 Affordable Housing for Rural Veterans – About the Grantees

  • Greenhouse Ministries, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee will use $30,000 to support rehabilitation of six veterans’ homes in rural Rutherford, Tennessee. For additional information about Greenhouse Ministries visit https://www.greenhousemin.org/.
  • NeighborWorks Umpqua, in Roseburg, Oregon will use $30,000 to perform critical repairs on three veteran-owned homes in Roseburg. For additional information about NeighborWorks Umpqua, visit https://www.nwumpqua.org.
  • North East Community Action Corporaton (NECAC), in Bowling Green, Missouri, will utilize $30,000 to support repair and rehabilitation of 8 to 10 veteran homes throughout its 12-county service area. For additonal information about NECAC, visit https://www.necac.org/.
  • Northwest Regional Housing Authority, Harrison, Arkansas, will utilize $30,000 to perform homeowner repairs on 5 to 10 veteran homes throughout its three-county service area. For additional information about Northwest Regional Housing Authority, visit https://www.nwregionalhousing.org/.
  • O.C.E.A.N., Inc. in Toms River, New Jersey, will utilize $30,000 to support the developent of 10 single-family housing units for veterns in Tuckertown, New Jersey. For additional information about O.C.E.A.N., Inc., visit https://www.oceaninc.org/.
  • Open Hands Outreach in Coolidge, Arizona, will utilize $14,225 to support the rehabilitation and expansion of a multi-tenant single-room occupancy (SRO) facility. For additional information about Open Hands Outreach, visit https://www.ohopcharity.org.
  • The Vets Place, in Northfield, Vermont, will utilize $30,000 to complete whole facility window replacement and weatherization on a 26-unit SRO transitional facility for veterans. For additional information on The Vets Place, visit https://www.vermontveteransplace.org/.
  • Western Maine Community Action (WMCA) in East Wilton, Maine, will use $30,000 to support home reconstruction for one rural veteran in Franklin County. More information about WMCA can be found at https://wmca.org.
  • White Mountain Apache Housing Authority, in Whiteriver, Arizona, will use $30,000 to repair three veteran homes on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. For more information about White Mountain Apache Housing Authority visit https://www.wmahousingauthority.org/.

Affordable Housing for Rural Veterans – Information and Resources

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Building knowledge around affordable housing for rural veterans is critical to meeting the needs of that population. Assistance providers have very little in the way of models or information on program development or effective use of resources. To facilitate networking between rural organizations and to assist in the development of effective programs, HAC’s Affordable Housing for Rural Veterans Initiative provides the following information resources:

Veterans Data Central

An extensive data utility that provides detailed information on the situation of veterans down to the level of every U.S. county. Included are demographic and economic indicators, housing characteristics, VA housing and mortgage finance information, and veteran homelessness. The site provides approximately 420 veteran-specific data indicators and over 650,000 data points dedicated solely to information on veterans.

Supporting Veterans in Your State

A set of fact sheets — one for each state, the District of Columbia, and the US — provides details on the veterans’ population including proportion, prevalence by county, median income, poverty levels, unemployment rate, disability, median home value, housing problems, homelessness, and other factors.

HAC Publications

HAC Lists

Sign up to be a stakeholder in the veterans’ program to get periodic announcements about grants, events, and resources for rural veterans’ housing programs. Contact Shonterria Charleston at shonterria@ruralhome.org or call 202.842.8600 x 131.

Sign up for HAC News for current updates on other housing issues as well as government programs

Additional Resources

FEDERAL PROGRAMS AND RESOURCES
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
The VA provides benefits, services, information and support to veterans of the U.S. Military services, including the veterans Home Loan Program.

HUD Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH)
HUD-VASH combines the Housing Choice Voucher rental assistance program with case management and clinical services from the VA.

USDA Rural Development Community Facilities Program

NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

The Home Depot Foundation: https://www.homedepotfoundation.org/

Volunteers of America: https://www.voa.org/Get-Help/National-Network-of-Services/Veterans

National Alliance to End Homelessness: https://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/veterans

National Coalition for Homeless Veterans: https://www.nchv.org/

Is there a resource that we have not listed here that you would like to see? Email HAC to share your ideas.

Affordable Housing for Rural Veterans

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Rural Veterans and Local Nonprofits Receive Housing Support

Funded by The Home Depot Foundation

Washington, D.C., September 21, 2018 – Veterans and their families in eleven rural communities will have better lives, thanks to The Home Depot Foundation and the Housing Assistance Council. The Foundation is awarding grants totaling $306,500 to eleven local nonprofit housing associations around the country to build or preserve housing for veterans in rural America.

The funds are part of The Home Depot Foundation’s Veteran Housing Grants Program, which wascreated to support the development and repair of housing for veterans. Too many American veterans and their families face major housing challenges, aggravated by issues like unemployment, age and service-related disabilities. The Home Depot Foundation is dedicated to giving back to those who have already given so much for our country.

Read More…


homedepotfoundationlogoMade possible with the Generous Support of The Home Depot Foundation

Veterans Data Central

A Resource for Informing Strategies to Help Veterans

The Housing Assistance Council (HAC), in partnership with The Home Depot Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation has created the Affordable Housing for Rural Veterans (AHRV) initiative to provide rural organizations with the technical assistance, training, information, and financial resources they need to improve their ability to serve veterans.

Veterans of the United States military services put their lives in danger to protect their country and its citizens. However, when they return home they are not always able to find housing and access to services in their communities.

Sponsored by:With Generous Support from JP Morgan Chase & Co.

In Partnership with The Home Depot Foundation, JP Morgan Chase Co, and The Wells Fargo Housing Foundation

Past Trainings

December 5, 2017: Affordable Housing Solutions for Rural Veterans: A Symposium – Recording

October 20, 2017: Veterans Aging Summit – Website

August 10, 2016: Overview on VA REO Property Preservation and Maintenance and Access Opportunities for Nonprofits – Materials: Presentation | Recording | Handbook

July 13, 2016: VA Specially Adapted Housing Grant Program – Materials: Presentation | Recording | Application

June 8, 2016: VA Housing Resources for Heroes: An In-depth Overview of the VA Home Loan Guaranty Benefit – Materials

May 18, 2016: Serving Our Aging Veterans: A Symposium – Materials

May 20, 2015: Serving Veterans in Rural America: A Symposium – Materials

May 6, 2015: Access to Health and Homeless Services for Rural Veterans – Materials

August 20, 2014: Building a Community for Veterans: Patriot Place, Tennessee – Materials

July 23, 2014: Canal Street Housing: Housing for Homeless Veterans – Materials

June 25, 2014: From Service to Shelter, Housing for Veterans in Rural America – Materials

April 22-23, 2014: Housing Seniors and Veterans in Rural America: Preservation, Development, & Services

April 9, 2014: Serving Veterans in Rural America – A Symposium – Summary and Materials

August 28-29, 2013: Housing Seniors and Veterans in Rural America: Preservation, Development and Services – Materials

Link to more Information and Resources

Link to Information about Initiative Grantees

Rural Housing Awards

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Skip Jason Community Service Award
Cochran/Collings Award for Distinguished Service in Housing
Henry B. González Award

Skip Jason Community Service Award

Past Recipients of the Skip Jason Award

The Skip Jason Community Service Award acknowledges people whose efforts have improved the housing conditions of the rural poor in their communities.

The award acknowledges people who work “in the trenches” and usually go unrecognized outside their communities. The award was originally called the Community Service Award and was named for Robert “Skip” Jason, a long-time housing activist with considerable community experience, after he died in 1982 while employed as HAC’s Government Services Director.

SKIP JASON (1939-1982)

Robert Mayer (Skip) Jason, a former HAC employee and housing advocate, was committed to improving living conditions for the rural poor.

Skip was a native of Bluefield, West Virginia where he first learned about the challenges facing poor rural residents. In 1963, he became one of the first Peace Corp Volunteers to be sent to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

Upon his return to the United States, he worked for community action agencies in Indiana, West Virginia, Vermont, and the District of Columbia. In 1974, he helped to set up Buffalo Housing, Inc. in southern West Virginia, a nonprofit organization established to help victims of the Buffalo Creek flood disaster.

Skip first joined HAC in its Atlanta office. In 1978, he moved to HAC’s Government Services Division in Washington, D.C. As a HAC employee, he worked on the Community Development Block Grant program, which included a set-aside for small cities and rural communities. Skip was also instrumental in developing the Farmers Home Administration’s Homeownership Assistance Program which, although never funded, resulted in a Congress that was more supportive and more aware of rural housing issues.

Cochran/Collings Award for Distinguished Service in Housing

Past Recipients of the Cochran/Collings Award

The Cochran/Collings Award for Distinguished Service in Housing honors individuals who have provided outstanding and enduring service, with national impact, for the betterment of housing conditions for the rural poor.

The award is named for two men who dedicated their careers to improving housing for rural Americans.

CLAY COCHRAN (1915-1982)

Clay L. Cochran was a fierce housing advocate who has often been credited as the founder of the U.S. rural housing movement. Clay, a fiery commentator on housing and basic needs, strongly believed that the federal government must not shirk its responsibility of providing basic shelter for low-income rural people. He also believed that the people, given the power to govern themselves, had the capacity to “create a society where there is less human anguish than yesterday.”

Some of his many accomplishments were to organize the Rural Housing Alliance, Rural America, the National Rural Housing Coalition, and the International Self-Help Housing Association. He claimed that his enthusiasm for decent housing resulted from a winter during his teens when his family lost its farm and lived out the coldest months in a tent on the West Texas plains.

ART COLLINGS (1928-2010)

Arthur M. (Art) Collings, Jr. began working in rural housing in 1955. He started in New Jersey as an assistant county supervisor at the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA), quickly moving up to county supervisor and then to a variety of other positions in New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

Beginning in 1972, the year in which the newly created Housing Assistance Council began hiring staff, Art’s jobs at FmHA alternated with periods at HAC. He served as special assistant to FmHA Administrator Gordon Cavanaugh from 1977 to 1980. From 1986 until his reluctant retirement at the end of 2004, Art served as HAC’s senior housing specialist.

Gordon Cavanaugh, HAC’s first executive director, once explained that he hired Art because he was told Art was the most liberal staffer at FmHA. “He taught the rest of us everything we knew,” said Cavanaugh. “Arthur was just extraordinarily dedicated, well informed, and a good-humored gentleman.”

Art wrote dozens of publications about USDA’s rural housing programs, from manuals on how to use them to analyses of how they could be improved. He authored a number of amendments to these programs, advised people all over the country on their use, and conducted countless training sessions.

Art’s dedication to improving housing conditions for low-income rural Americans was unmatched. His feistiness and humor, added to his extensive knowledge of USDA’s rural housing programs, made him unique, sometimes frustrating to work with, and well-loved around the country.

Henry B. González Award

Past Recipients of the Henry B. González Award

The Henry B. González Award recognizes individuals who have contributed to the improvement of housing conditions for low-income rural Americans through elected office.

REP. HENRY B. GONZALEZ

The award is named for Rep. Henry B. González, who represented the 20th District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1961 until ill health forced him to retire in 1998.

Beginning in 1981, he chaired first the House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development and eventually the full Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs (now the Financial Services Committee). In these powerful positions he championed numerous bills to improve housing conditions for people in both urban and rural areas. Rep. Gonzalez passed away in 2000.

Southwest Regional Office

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The Southwest Regional Office primarily provides Technical Assistance and Training in the states of: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.

Southwest Office
P.O. Box 315
San Miguel, NM 88058

Tel.:(505) 883-1003

Gene Gonzales, Director
Anselmo Telles, Housing Development Specialist

Southeast Regional Office

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Southeast Regional Office: Providing Technical Assistance and Training to the Organizations which Help the Poorest of the Poor

Southeast Regional Office
55 Marietta St
Suite 1350
Atlanta, GA 30303
Tel.: 404-892-4824
Fax: 404-892-1204
E-mail:southeast@ruralhome.org

The Southeast Regional Office primarily provides Technical Assistance and Training in the states of: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Staff List

Shonterria Charleston, Training and Technical Assistance DirectorChristina Adeshakin, Housing Specialist
Kelly Cooney, Housing Specialist

Midwest Regional Office

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Providing Technical Assistance and Training in America’s Heartland

Midwest Regional Office
Housing Assistance Council
5559 NW Barry Road
Mailbox #356
Kansas City, MO 64154
Tel.: (816) 880-0400
Fax: (816) 880-0500

Stephanie Nichols, Project Manager

The Midwest Regional Office primarily provides Technical Assistance and Training in the states of: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Privacy Policy

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HAC Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Effective date: April 16, 2018

Housing Assistance Council (“us”, “we”, or “our”) operates the https://ruralhome.org website and the HAC Trainings mobile application (the “Service”).

This page informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data when you use our Service and the choices you have associated with that data.

We use your data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. Unless otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy, terms used in this Privacy Policy have the same meanings as in our Terms and Conditions.

Information Collection And Use

We collect several different types of information for various purposes to provide and improve our Service to you.

Types of Data Collected

Personal Data

While using our Service, we may ask you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you (“Personal Data”). Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

  • Email address
  • First name and last name
  • Phone number
  • Address, State, Province, ZIP/Postal code, City
  • Cookies and Usage Data

Usage Data

We may also collect information that your browser sends whenever you visit our Service or when you access the Service by or through a mobile device (“Usage Data”).

This Usage Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

When you access the Service by or through a mobile device, this Usage Data may include information such as the type of mobile device you use, your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of your mobile device, your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser you use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

Tracking & Cookies Data

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Service and hold certain information.

Cookies are files with small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device. Tracking technologies also used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze our Service.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.

Examples of Cookies we use:

  • Session Cookies. We use Session Cookies to operate our Service.
  • Preference Cookies. We use Preference Cookies to remember your preferences and various settings.
  • Security Cookies. We use Security Cookies for security purposes.

Automated processing of data

  • We automatically collect certain information to track visitor activity on our websites. We use this information to improve the content of our sites as well as to provide visitors with a more relevant overall experience with our organization and our site. This information may include information that identifies you as an individual or relates to an identifiable individual, including: name, title, company name, job function, expertise, postal address, telephone number, or email address. We may also collect other information that does not reveal your specific identity or does not directly relate to an identifiable individual such as browser and device information, information collected through cookies, pixel tags, and other technologies, and demographic information. We never share this information or information you provide us with third parties except to the extent necessary to provide our Service and only to the extent described in the Terms of Service.
  • If you fill out a web form on our site, your information will be stored in our CRM system and some amount of your past browsing on our site may be available to us to determine your interests. We may use this information to more effectively engage with you and improve our site. However, if you use private browsing as described below, you may provide us your information without making your past browsing activity available to us. If you do not wish for us to have your personal information, please do not fill out any of the web forms on this site.
  • If you provide your email address and consent for email marketing, some information is collected about when/if the email was opened and what links were clicked. This information is used to assess the engagement and success of an email campaign.
  • Clicking on a link in any of these emails may cause you to be personally identified on our site and may cause some part of your past browsing history on our site to be available to our personnel so we may more effectively engage with you and improve our site. If you do not wish for this tracking to occur, you can unsubscribe from our mailings or use private browsing mode to avoid tracking.
  • Housing Assistance Council never uses visitor identification techniques that involve sharing information you provide us with other sites or vice versa. Housing Assistance Council never stores any information in your computer’s Flash local shared objects area (i.e., we never use what is known as ‘flash cookies’).

If you do not want this site to place a cookie on your browser and track your activity, you may leave the site or you may browse the site using privacy mode in your web browser. To learn how to use privacy mode, refer to the links below depending on the browser you use.

Use of Data

Housing Assistance Council uses the collected data for various purposes:

  • To provide and maintain the Service
  • To notify you about changes to our Service
  • To allow you to participate in interactive features of our Service when you choose to do so
  • To provide customer care and support
  • To provide analysis or valuable information so that we can improve the Service
  • To monitor the usage of the Service
  • To detect, prevent and address technical issues

Transfer Of Data

Your information, including Personal Data, may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from your jurisdiction.

If you are located outside United States and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the data, including Personal Data, to United States and process it there.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.

Housing Assistance Council will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of your data and other personal information.

Disclosure Of Data

Legal Requirements

Housing Assistance Council may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

  • To comply with a legal obligation
  • To protect and defend the rights or property of Housing Assistance Council
  • To prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
  • To protect the personal safety of users of the Service or the public
  • To protect against legal liability

Security Of Data

The security of your data is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Service Providers

We may employ third party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service (“Service Providers”), to provide the Service on our behalf, to perform Service-related services or to assist us in analyzing how our Service is used.

These third parties have access to your Personal Data only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

Analytics

We may use third-party Service Providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Service.

  • Google Analytics

    Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Google uses the data collected to track and monitor the use of our Service. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.

    For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en

  •  

    Microsoft Dynamics 365

    Dynamics 365 is a set of intelligent business applications that help organizations run their entire business and deliver greater results through predictive, AI-driven insights. HAC utilized Dynamics 365 Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) and Customer Voice to gather marketing contacts, track business activities, and distribute marketing communications to the HAC audience. HAC does not share this data with external parties.

    To learn more about Microsoft’s privacy policies, visit https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/privacy/

Links To Other Sites

Our Service may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third-party sites or services.

Children’s Privacy

Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 18 (“Children”).

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your Children has provided us with Personal Data, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Data from children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

Changes To This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

We will let you know via email and/or a prominent notice on our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the “effective date” at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

  • By email: hac@ruralhome.org
  • By visiting this page on our website: https://ruralhome.org/privacy
  • By phone number: 202.842.8600

Loan Products

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Rural Seed Money Loan Products

The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) operates several loan funds that provide vital seed money to rural housing developers: community-based, nonprofit organizations, housing development corporations, self help housing sponsors, farm worker organizations, cooperatives, Indian tribes, public agencies, units of local government, public utility districts, and small business and minority contractors. HAC funds help these organizations and individuals take the steps necessary to improve housing and living standards for rural, low- and very-low-income households, such as creation of subdivisions and new single- or multifamily housing units, rehabilitation of existing units, and improved water and waste water disposal systems in rural communities.

The Housing Assistance Council’s loan fund provides low-cost financing to developers of affordable housing in rural communities nationwide. Funds are currently available at 5.0% interest with a discounted 1.0% service fee; borrowers are responsible for closing costs. Current interest rate for for-profit developers is 8%. The standard loan term is three years. There is no maximum loan amount, although loans may not exceed available collateral. Loans must be recoverable from the permanent financing for the project.

Loans must be for projects, which include provisions for serving low-income people as defined by federal guidelines. Projects serving low- and very-low income persons will receive priority. At least 51% of the resulting housing units must be affordable to low- or very-low income people. The proposed projects must be located in areas that are rural in character and have populations of less than 25,000. Each of HAC’s loan products is briefly described below.

PRE-DEVELOPMENT

Loan funds are available for predevelopment expenses associated with the development of affordable housing. Eligible uses are: land options, down payments, architectural and engineering fees, site surveys, soil test borings, market studies, appraisals, environmental engineering studies, archeological clearances, and legal expenses related to site acquisition.

SITE ACQUISITION

Loan funds are available for acquisition and related costs for the development of affordable housing. Eligible uses are: land options, escrow payments, land purchase, legal expenses associated with site acquisition, and other reasonable closing costs.

SITE DEVELOPMENT

HAC loan funds may finance site development expenses associated with affordable single-family and multifamily development including self-help housing. Eligible expenses are: impact and permit fees, engineering surveys/fees, clearing and grading, wells, septic/water, sewer installation, utility hook-ups, streets, curbs, sidewalks, and legal expenses for site development.

CONSTRUCTION

Loan funds may finance unit construction costs of affordable housing developments. Eligible expenses are: construction materials and labor, construction bonds, construction inspection fees, legal costs, and title and recording fees. The maximum loan amount for construction loans is currently $750,000 and limited to single-family development. All fees incurred by HAC, including legal costs, hiring of a local construction inspector, title, and recording fees, will be charged to the borrower and, if necessary, financed by the HAC loan. The term of the loan will be determined by the needs of the project, pending underwriting review.

HAC’s SELF-HELP HOMEOWNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM (SHOP)

HAC provides loan funds through the HUD Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP) to self-help housing providers for land acquisition and infrastructure improvement for the development of self-help units. The homebuyer family must contribute a significant amount of sweat-equity towards the construction of the dwelling. Loan funds are made available through a competitive application process and cannot exceed $15,000 per lot. SHOP loans are at 0% interest. Up to 90% of the SHOP loan may be forgiven when the borrower has satisfied the conditions of the loan agreement. The forgivable portion may become a grant for the group to establish its own revolving loan fund for future site acquisition and development of self-help housing or to provide direct subsidies to participating homebuyer families. SHOP funds are subject to HUD Environmental Review regulations.

PRESERVATION LOAN

PRLF proceeds are for short- or long-term costs of preservation, repayment and rehabilitation of USDA RHS Section 515 properties. Loans may be used for refinancing and costs incorporated into long-term financing such as options; downpayments; purchase; site development; architectural and engineering fees; construction financing; working capital and construction bonds; costs associated with USDA RHS required Capital Needs Assessments; preliminary easement and water rights purchase; legal expenses to establish utility districts; bonding; interim financing of local share costs; acquisition of existing private systems for rehabilitation; and emergency repair; and rehabilitation and repair.

If you are interested in applying for HAC loan funds, please contact HAC at (202) 842-8600, for information regarding application criteria and to request an application packet.

Applications should be submitted to HAC’s National Office at 1025 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Suite 606, Washington, D. C. 20005, Attention: Loan Fund Division. Telephone (202) 842-8600. Information about HAC and state and federal loan programs may be obtained from the same address or from the HAC Regional Offices.

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50 Years for Rural America

Over 50 years HAC has worked in every U.S. state and the territories. Learn more about what our work means for rural communities.

Board Portal

Housing Assistance Council   |  1828 L Street. N.W., Suite 505, Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 842-8600  |  (202) 347-3441  |  hac@ruralhome.org

HAC is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.