West Sacramento, Calif. — A $1.55 million Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) loan recently bridged a funding gap to save a desperately-needed Clark County affordable housing project.
The short-term loan to Color Country Community Housing, Inc. (CCCHI) made possible the purchase of 13.68 acres of raw land in Mesquite, Nevada. Although CCCHI had secured a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Site Loan for the property, funds could not be disbursed until the end of August, while the Mesquite agreement required purchase by the end of July. Without the emergency loan, the land would have been lost to higher bidders anxious to cash in on the local housing boom.
“This is an important project for hardworking families priced out of the conventional home buying market,” said Ty Tippets, executive director of CCCHI. “We’re grateful to RCAC for providing us with this much-needed short-term loan.”
As one of the fastest growing communities in the fastest growing state in the nation, Mesquite has experienced a sudden upward spiral in land and housing prices that is rapidly pricing working families out of the home buying market. CCCHI is working to aide such families through
purchase of the land, now dubbed “Sunrise Meadows” on which 60 Mutual Self-Help homes will
eventually be built.
RCAC has been involved in the USDA Rural Development’s Mutual Self-Help Housing Program for more than two decades. Through Mutual Self-Help projects, low to moderate income rural citizens attain the seemingly unattainable goal of home ownership.
In a Mutual Self-Help Housing project, groups of eight to 12 families and individuals work together under the guidance of a construction supervisor hired by a nonprofit housing developer such as CCCHI. In lieu of a down payment, those in the program provide labor as “sweat equity.”
Homes in any given program are built simultaneously, with future owners providing at least 65 percent of all labor. No family moves into their new home until all in the program are completed.
The incomes of families taking part in the Sunrise Meadows Self-Help will be at or below 80 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), with many at 50 percent or more below the AMI.
Construction plans have been submitted to Mesquite’s city engineer for review and the project was approved by the Mesquite City Council at its July 25 board meeting.
“As housing prices escalate throughout the western United States, RCAC is very happy to be able to provide loans to organizations working to supply affordable housing alternatives to working individuals and families,” said Mike Flanagan, director of RCAC’s Loan Fund.
Since 2000, CCCHI has completed 187 units of affordable multi-family housing and 49 units of single-family housing. It currently has 24 units of affordable multi-family and 64 units of singlefamily housing under development – not including the Sunrise Meadows project.
Headquartered in West Sacramento, California, and serving 13 western states, RCAC is a nonprofit agency providing technical assistance, training and financing to rural communities seeking to develop a wide range of local services including, community facilities, affordable housing and water treatment facilities. In 1996, RCAC was designated a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) by the United States Treasury. RCAC maintains a field office in Reno, Nevada.