West Sacramento, Calif. — An affordable housing project benefiting American Falls, Idaho moved a step closer to reality recently thanks in part to a loan from Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC).

The $54,000 short-term loan to Southeastern Idaho Community Action Agency, Inc. (SEICAA) will be combined with funds from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity (SHOP) program to purchase several residential lots.

The project comes as more and more individuals working in American Falls say they must commute into the area because of housing-related issues. In fact, a 2002 American Falls Economic Development Survey determined that more than 32 percent of American Falls workers lived outside the city’s limits. Most in the survey cited high housing prices and low availability as the primary reasons for commuting.

A total of 14 lots located in Lakeview Subdivision of American Falls will now become the second phase of SEICAA’s 20-home Self-Help Housing Program project.

RCAC has been involved in Mutual Self-Help Housing projects for more than two decades. In a Mutual Self-Help Housing Program, a group of eight to 12 low- and very low-income families and individuals work together under the guidance of a construction supervisor hired by a nonprofit housing developer such as SEICAA. 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.

Mutual Self-Help homeowners have mortgages that are generally far less than those of standard new or resale homes and the program – which has seen nearly 25,000 homes built since 1971 — boasts a delinquency of a mere 3 to 4 percent.