Year 2018 Archives

Solutions to rural poverty the focus of HAC Rural Housing Conference

December 17, 2018/in Year 2018

Contact: Dan Stern
(202) 842-8600
dan@ruralhome.org

Over 600 rural builders and advocates gather in Washington, DC

Washington, DC, December 17, 2018 – Over 600 stakeholders from 48 state who work in the field of rural community development came together recently for two-and-a-half days at the Housing Assistance Council‘s (HAC) 2018 National Rural Housing Conference. Attendees from local nonprofits, federal agencies, Congress, state and local governments, and other industry leaders met to learn, discuss, and network in support of affordable housing and building rural prosperity.

The Conference featured over 40 workshops where participants learned best practices for rural housing development, organizational management, and resource development, as well as innovative approaches to housing and community development. The event included a pre-Conference day packed with gatherings for coalitions, associations, and working groups.

Participants heard from Federal Reserve Board of Governors chairman Jerome Powell, who revealed the central bank’s growing focus on communities that have been left out of the overall economic expansion. Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NV) also addressed the conference and called for her colleagues to work alongside her and community developers from across the country who want to improve rural areas.

“We love hosting the Rural Housing Conference every two years,”” said HAC CEO David Lipsetz. “It brings over 600 local leaders and practitioners together to learn from each other and share our passion for building better rural communities. We hope everyone goes home with new ideas for their work, and that they are excited to work with HAC to make them a reality!”

For more information on the HAC Conference, download the HAC Trainings App, access photos from the event here, visit HAC’s YouTube channel where content from the Conference will be posted, and check back with www.ruralhome.org for any additional updates about HAC and the Rural Housing Conference.

About the Housing Assistance Council
The Housing Assistance Council helps build homes and communities across rural America. Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., HAC is a national nonprofit and a certified community development financial institution dedicated to helping local rural organizations build affordable homes by providing below-market financing, technical assistance, training, research, and information services. To learn more, visit www.ruralhome.org.

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Rural Veterans and Local Nonprofits Receive Housing Support

September 21, 2018/in Year 2018

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.

As part of its Affordable Housing for Rural Veterans Initiative, the Housing Assistance Council (HAC) works with The Foundation to administer these grants. “Rural America is home to a disproportionately higher number of service women and men who have earned and deserve a decent, affordable place to call home,” said David Lipsetz, HAC’s CEO. “HAC is proud to continue its partnership with The Home Depot Foundation in its effort to support local nonprofit groups to ensure that veterans in rural America receive much deserved housing assistance.” HAC builds the capacity of local housing nonprofits to assist more veterans and others in their communities.

The grantee organizations – described below – provide a range of programs. With the grants, veterans who own homes in Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Tennessee, will obtain shelter and critical repair assistance. In addition, new housing units will be constructed for six veterans in Arizona. Altogether, more than 80 veterans and their families will benefit from these grants.

About The Home Depot Foundation
The Home Depot Foundation works to improve the homes and lives of U.S. veterans, train skilled tradespeople to fill the labor gap and support communities impacted by natural disasters. Since 2011, the Foundation has invested a quarter of a billion dollars in veteran-related causes and improved more than 40,000 veteran homes and facilities in 2,500 cities. In 2018, the Foundation committed an additional $50 million dollars to train 20,000 skilled tradespeople over the next 10 years starting with separating military members and veterans, at-risk youth and members of the Atlanta Westside community. To learn more about The Home Depot Foundation and see Team Depot in action, visit thd.co/community and follow us on Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram @teamdepot and on Facebook at facebook.com/teamdepot.

About the Grantees

Catholic Charities, Inc,in Phoenix, AZ will use $30,000 to leverage the construction of six (6) transitional units in Mohave County. For additional information about Catholic Charities visit catholiccharitiesaz.org.
Crystal Towers Women’s and Children’s Shelter, in Sandusky, Ohio will utilize $6,500 to support the construstion of six (6) single family veteran homes in Huron County. For additional information about Crystal Towers Women’s and Children’s Shelter visit www.facebook.com/crystaltower.
Green House Ministries, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee will utilize $30,000 to perform critical repairs on eight (8) veteran-owned homes in rural Tennessee. For additional information about Green House Ministries, visit greenhousemin.org.
Jerry Ambrose Veteran Council, in Kingman, AZ will utilize $30,000 to support the repair and rehabilitation of a 12-unit transitional housing complex in rural Arizona . For additonal information about Jerry Abmrose Veterans Council, visit www.javc.org.
Magnolia Community Development Corporation (CDC), in Opelousas, Louisiana, will leverage $30,000 to perform critical homeowner repairs on seven (7) veteran homes St. Landry and Lafayette Parishes. For additional information about Magnolia CDC, visit magnoliacdc.org.
Mountain T.O.P., Inc.,in Altamont, Tennessee, will utilize $30,000 to support critical rehabilitaiton and repairs on four (4) veteran single-family housing units in Grundy County. For additional information about Mountain T.O.P., Inc., visit mountain-top.org.
New Foundation Development, Inc., in Calhoun, Georgia will utilize $30,000 to support the rehabilitation and repairs to three (3) veteran single-family housing units in Gordon County. For additional information about New Foundatoin Devep, visit NFDinc.org.
Northwest Regional Housing Authority, Harrison, Arkansas, will utilize $30,000 to perform homeowner repairs on 14 single-family veteran homes throughout its three-county service area. For additional information about Northwest Regional Housing Authority, visit nwregionalhousing.org.
Tierra del Sol Housing Development Corporation (TDS) in Las Cruces, New Mexico, will utilize $30,000 to support the rehabilitation of 10 single-family housing units throughout its seven county service area. For more information about TDS, visit tdshc.org.
Veterans & Community Housing Coalition (VCHC), in Ballston Spa, NY will utilize $30,000 to support critical repairs to 11 units of transitional housing in Saratoga County. For more informaiton about VCHC, visit www.vchcny.org.
White Mountain Apache Housing Authority, in Whiteriver, Arizona, will utilize $30,000 to repair three (3) veteran homes on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. For more information about White Mountain Apache Housing Authority visit wmahousingauthority.org.

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HAC Awards $2,250,000 for Affordable Rental Housing in Louisiana

August 17, 2018/in Year 2018

Contact: James McGraw, james@ruralhome.org, 202-842-8600
Dan Stern, dan@ruralhome.org, 202-842-8600

Washington, DC, August 17, 2018 – The Housing Assistance Council (HAC), in conjunction with the Louisiana Housing Corporation, is partnering with Noah Arc Community Development Corporation, Inc. (NACD) to build 18 affordable rental homes in Minden, Webster Parish, Louisiana. HAC will finance this project using its Rural Housing Loan Fund.

NACD’s mission is to provide affordable housing for faith-based organizations. NACD has provided development consulting on approximately 10 affordable housing projects located throughout California, Louisiana, and Texas. The HAC Loan Funds will be used in the development of the Noah Arc Townhome Project. The first phase, Mindenville Homes , will consist of eighteen 3-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom townhome style affordable rental units contained within six buildings. All homes will feature energy efficient appliances and low flow bathroom fixtures. Construction will begin in Fall of 2018.

“HAC is pleased to team up with Noah Arc Community Development Corporation, Inc. and continue our commitment to working in the Delta,” says David Lipsetz, HAC’s CEO. “We are thrilled to bring NACD into our community of partner organizations working to develop affordable housing across the United States.”

HAC’s Loan Fund makes short-term loans at below market interest rates to local nonprofits, for-profits, and government entities developing affordable housing for low-income rural residents throughout the United States and territories. Loans from these funds are used for a wide variety of housing development purposes, for all types of affordable and mixed income housing projects, and for both rental and ownership units. For more information, contact James McGraw at 202- 842-8600 or visit www.ruralhome.org/lending.

About the Housing Assistance Council
The Housing Assistance Council helps build homes and communities across rural America. Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., HAC is a national nonprofit and a certified community development financial institution dedicated to helping local rural organizations build affordable homes by providing below-market financing, technical assistance, training, research, and information services. To learn more, visit www.ruralhome.org.

HAC research explores the possibilities for improved mortgage finance on reservations

May 22, 2018/in Year 2018

Contact: Christina Davila, christinad@ruralhome.org, 202-842-8600
Dan Stern, dan@ruralhome.org, 202-842-8600

Washington, D.C., May 22, 2018- HAC’s recently released rural research report, Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities for Mortgage Finance in Indian Country, confirms mortgage lending activity is limited on many reservations and explores possible solutions to addressing the issues. The current lending conditions on many reservation lands include low origination rates, high denial rates, and involve a high proportion of loans for manufactured homes.

The report provides a sweeping picture of the mortgage market on reservations, where:

Fewer than 1,000 mortgage loans are made annually
Nearly half of mortgage loan applications are denied annually
Almost one-fifth of homes are manufactured homes
Two of the 20 largest-volume lenders are Native-owned institutions

Considering the findings in this report, HAC recommends that efforts to address the challenges of mortgage lending on reservations include improvements in education of lenders and borrowers, expanding the capacity of tribes, small lenders, and federal regulators, better targeted financial policies, and increased access to data.

“HAC is proud to present this report said David Lipsetz, HAC’s Executive Director. “This report improves our understanding of mortgage lending on tribal reservations and for Native American people, and we look forward to expanding our efforts to better serve organizations providing housing on tribal lands. HAC would like to thank the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation for their support of this research.”

“This report is a great resource for anyone working in housing on reservations,’ said Marvin Ginn, Executive Director of Native Community Finance based in Laguna, New Mexico. “It illustrates the challenges we face as housers for Native American populations, and provides recommendations that can help ease those challenges. This sort of research can help us better target our efforts and improve our work on reservations.”

HAC will present a more detailed analysis of the findings, and how they impact real-world practitioners in a webinar training on Wednesday, May 23, 2018 at 2 PM Eastern.

About the Housing Assistance Council
The Housing Assistance Council helps build homes and communities across rural America. Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., HAC is a national nonprofit dedicated to helping local rural organizations build affordable homes by providing below-market financing, technical assistance, training, research, and information services. To learn more, visit www.ruralhome.org.
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HUD Awards $1 Million to the Housing Assistance Council

May 18, 2018/in Year 2018

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) just announced a $1 million Rural Capacity Building award to the Housing Assistance Council. HAC will leverage its $1 million award with private investments to assist nearly 20 rural communities create, preserve, repair or rehabilitate a projected 750 units of housing and support 600 jobs.