Nonprofit organization helps low-income families build homes

Nonprofit organization helps low-income families build homes

(Self-Help Homes)


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ELK RIDGE CITY — A local nonprofit organization is providing 10 income-eligible families with beautiful homes of their own.

On Monday, the Rural Housing Development Corporation, along with the families who built the homes themselves through a program called Mutual Self-Help Housing, will present the homes at an open house, according to a press release.

“The Mutual Self-Help Housing program takes the rural tradition of barn-raising and puts it to use for families who, after working all day and all week, spend their nights and weekends building their own home,” the press release said.

Rather than just giving the homes to these families, RHDC gives the families seven to 10 months to work as a team and provide “sweat equity” to build all the homes.

Photo Credit: Self-Help Homes
Photo Credit: Self-Help Homes

“This group of families has been working together since February to complete the 10 homes in their group,” the press release said. “With the completion of these 10 homes, it brings the total count of Self-Help Homes built in Utah and Wasatch counties to 360.”

Each group worked under the direction of a construction supervisor, and each family volunteered a minimum of 35 hours per week to complete the homes.

The groups completed more than 65 percent of the construction on the homes including framing, roofing, painting and finish work.

The open house will take place Nov. 24 from 3 to 5:30 p.m.

Community members can gather at Elk Ridge Meadows Subdivision, 1602 N. Grizzly Way, and view the 10 homes.

Each home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and measures between 1,300 and 1,400 square feet of finished space with a full unfinished basement.

The Mutual Self-Help Housing program has helped Utah families for 14 years, building homes in Elk Ridge, Payson, Salem, Santaquin, Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain and Heber City.

“We had a recent housing study done in the rural parts of Utah County, and we’re serving about 3 percent of the lower income families that are renting right now and looking for home ownership,” Self-Help Homes executive director Brad Bishop told KSL.com.

Self-Help Homes wants to help families provide a place for their children to live, Bishop said.


I love to see people have the ability to help lift themselves and their neighbors up to better their situations and strengthen each other while working together as a group.

–Brad Bishop


“I love to see people have the ability to help lift themselves and their neighbors up to better their situations and strengthen each other while working together as a group,” Bishop said.

The foreclosure rate on these homes is just 1 to 2 percent, and the loans, called 502 direct loans, used to finance these homes, are paid back with interest and perpetuated for future families.

The mortgages range from $195,000 to $225,000 and are administered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture–Rural Development.

To qualify for the Mutual Self-Help Housing program, an applicant must have low debt, good credit, enough income to qualify for a mortgage with USDA-Rural Development, and be willing to contribute the labor necessary for the project. The applicant must also be income qualified and earn less than 80 percent of the area median income (i.e. a family of four must earn less than $53,700 per year), according to the press release.

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Megan Marsden Christensen

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