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Self Help Builder News March 2012 Volume 5 Issue #1 >
Family of five puts down roots in Mutual Self-Help Housing in Mesquite, NV
By Eileen Piekarz, RCAC rural development specialist
Roberta Franco always wanted a home for her five kids, a place to put roots down.
She’d gone to college, had good jobs and paid her bills. However, her debt to income ratio was high due to student loans, and she’d been told by lenders she could not qualify for a home loan. She was able to qualify in the Mutual Self-Help Housing program operated by Color Country Community Housing, Inc. due to the sweat equity families earn by working on their homes 30 hours per week.
Ms. Franco’s experience during construction with four other families was “Great. Everyone was very excited to learn to use this tool or that tool. We pumped each other up.” Yes, there were some disagreements toward the end of construction when everyone was eager to get their own homes done, but “Our construction supervisor was good at getting us to work together.”
Ms. Franco worked two part-time jobs that added up to more than 50 hours per week while building her home. Getting up at 7 a.m. each day, she’d get her kids off to school, then work as an administrative assistant at Salvation Army, put in several hours working on the Self-Help homes, then spend the evening cleaning vacation rentals before getting home at 11 p.m. On weekends she put in more hours building the homes. Asked how she did it all, she said “When you see your goal on what you are doing every day, it makes a difference. I had already decided in my mind that was my home.”
Ms. Franco and her four younger children moved in on July 31, 2010, the same day the home had its final inspection. “We had sheets over the windows for a few weeks until the blinds came, but we were living in our home” she says with a laugh. “All my kids picked their own colors for their rooms, and the same with me. We never got to do that before in apartments. Now they have a place that feels sale and comfortable, that is their area.”
Ms. Franco is a big supporter of Color Country Community Housing, Inc. and has referred other families to the Mutual Self-Help Program, including two who are building homes now. “Because when you work hard, you want to see where your money goes, not throw it away on an apartment. With Self-Help Housing you get a home. I feel good helping people get a home.” When Ms. Franco ran into one of those ladies last night at the store, she got a hug and a thank you for telling them about the program.
Ms. Franco became director of Salvation Army of Mesquite about the same time she moved into her home. She spends her days helping people in the community with “anything and everything.” And she finds her teenagers stay home more now. “They have their space and have their friends over. There is no need for them to be running around.” Her younger children have their swing set in the back and feel comfortable in their yard. “We don’t have to pack up and go to the park when we want fresh air.”
Ms. Franco says she plans to stay in the home she built along with her neighbors “Forever. We’re good. I know they say they are starter homes, but I’m happy and content with my home. We put down our roots here.”
RCAC supports Color Country Community Housing, Inc. strengthen all aspects of its Mutual Self-Help Housing program, from recruiting families to financial management systems.