Wednesday, Mar 2 2011 11:10PM
A USDA loan has helped lower-income Utahns build their own homes.
Brigham Young University students are volunteering to help families in rural Utah County, Utah, who are building their own homes with the help of a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development loan, reported the college newspaper the Daily Universe.
The housing assistance program, which provides a loan toward the purchase of building supplies and then $10,000 to $30,000 of equity after move-in, assists low-income families with good credit, reported the paper. Student volunteers, in addition to members of the nonprofit Rural Housing Development Corporation, have been helping families construct their homes on Saturdays.
Volunteers and families work together in teams to build the homes. The paper added that no family will move into their residence until all of the homes in the neighborhood are finished. Jarek Artwood, a BYU student and one of the college's Rural Housing Development program directors, told the paper that one of the goals of the program is bringing the community closer together.
While rural Utah has struggled economically during the recession, an editor from Forbes magazine recently told the Salt Lake City Tribune that the state is faring well compared to others, indicating that households may soon be more financially stable.