HOMES FOR ISLANDERS

Homes for Islanders will build nine new homes in Friday Harbor

posted 06/27/2007
On June 14th the Rural Community Assistance Corp. (RCAC) announced a $640,000 loan to purchase and develop the site at the corner of Park and Guard St. in Friday Harbor> On June 20th a loan of $135,000 of Self Help Opportunity Program (SHOP) funds was approved by Community Frameworks. Community Frameworks is a regional distributor of federal SHOP funds.

On June 27th, the Washington Dept. of Community Trade and Economic Development announced the conditional award of $420,000 in Housing Trust funds to Home for Islanders for homeowner’s down payment assistance for the Park Street development.

Shortly, HFI anticipates that USDA-Rural Development assisted mortgage loans will be approved to complete the financing.

Park Street is Homes for Islanders third project in three years. The Park Street development will have 4 duplex and five town homes, nine homes, all with private yards and garages. The homes will be built by the mutual self-help method of home owners working together as a team. Home owners will work for a year and move in when all homes are completed. All of these awards are loans and will eventually be repaid when owners sell or refinance. The homes will have a resale restriction insuring that they will remain affordable for low to middle income buyers.

In addition to providing water and sewer service, the Town of Friday Harbor has been very helpful at every stage of this development.

HFI is a non-profit 501(c)(3) housing development organization that is currently assisting low income home owners to build their own homes. HFI provides organization, financing, home sites ready to build and the on site direction and training to build the homes. By providing upwards of 2000 hours of labor, home builders earn equity and substantially reduce the cost of their homes.

Site construction is scheduled to begin in July and home construction shortly thereafter. Homes for Islanders is still accepting applications from families and individuals who would like to participate.

For additional information contact the Homes for Islander’s office at 360.370.5944 or visit the website at www.homesforislanders.org.

Homes for eight more families

Story and photos (except top one) by Sharon Kivisto

posted 09/27/2006
Three generations of islanders moved into their new homes and the neighorhood they spent the past 14 months building last weekend. Keys were handed out, speeches were made, volunteers were thanked and for the first time in a long time the homeowners could relax.

The sweat equity program requires the participants work 30 hours per week building the houses. All eight houses must be done before anyone can move in. Volunteers can help. There was a total of 19,000 hours put into the houses. The budget was $1.2 million and the project came in within 1 percent of the budget.

Each homeowner has approximately a $135,000 mortgage which will repay the $1.2 million costs of the construction. The administrative costs for the Homes for Islanders program were covered by a USDA grant.

The houses are appraised at $270,000. The homeowners can sell their homes as long as the purchaser is someone with a moderate income who intends to live in the home. Moderate income is defined as 85 to 95 percent of the median county income. The rule is in effect for 50 years.

Homes for Islanders Executive Director Roy Clauson said, "This program is not a handout. I watched these people work. This is not a gift, this is an opportunity."

The homeowners all expressed their thanks for having been given the opportunity. Montessori Teacher Scott Dow said, "I'm lucky enough to have a job in my chosen field. This is somewhere to raise a family. I don't know if I could stay here without this. This is much better than buying a home. We know all our neighbors."

Ivan Plaza and his family moved into the largest home - a four-bedroom house. He thanked all the volunteers. "We got a lot of help from community who didn't get anything (in return)." Plaza who is a construction worker felt the hardest thing for hime was to get off of work and know he was facing another seven hours of doing the same thing.

Veronica Romey, a pilates instructor, summed up the life-changing experiences the eight families had gone through. "We learned more. We built this neighborhood. The houses are a minor detail to the larger gift of friendship and family. We couldn't have a greater three-generations. We are a family," she said. "We overcame our personal doubts. When you saw a roof done you knew two people had overcome their fear of heights. There has been sweat and tears and very little blood."

Eight will sweat their way to a new home

posted 06/14/05
Eight island families will spend the next eight to 12 months working 30 hours per week building their own homes -- while holding down their regular jobs. Homes for Islanders board member Rene Polda knows first hand about working in the bad weather, trying to read a tape measure, cooperating with others. She built her first home in a self-help housing program. She said, "Look through the tunnel, there is a light and it will illuminate the rest of your life."

Homes for Islanders became the newest self-help grantee in the state of Washington last week. At the same time, the group received a $518,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture. The grant will cover the costs of the executive director, bookkeeper, construction supervisor for the two housing projects the group is undertaking in the next two years.

A ceremony was held at the first project site off of Beaverton Valley Road. Sally Hintz of Senator Maria Cantwell's office, Cheris Little of Rep. Rick Larsen's office, Tuana Jones, area director for USDA Rural Development and Sandi Boughton state director of USDA RD attended. Boughton presented the check. (USDA has a variety of programs to help people own their own homes. More information is available at www.rurdev.usda.gov)

The eight homes will be built by a construction foreman, a physical therapist, a mechanic, a Montessori school teacher, a bookkeeper, a fisherman, a pilates instructor and a cement company employee. The homeowners must do 65 percent of the work. No one can move into their home until all of the houses are completed. They work together on parts of the project.

Self-help projects such as Homes for Islanders are not a handout, Polda said. "It is a hand-up program."

She remembered the completion of the self-help project she was in. "We were all sitting on our porches. Our kids were riding their bikes and playing in the yards. It was the most wonderful feeling. No one can take that away from you. You'll always have that happy feeling you earned what you got."

Mary Stone of Homes for Islanders said the mortgages will be approximately $133,000. The estimated cost to have a similar home built would be $232,000. It would cost about $275,000 to buy a similar home. Unlike other affordable housing projects, the homeowners also own the land.

For the eight-home project, Brown Lumber was the lowest bidder. Lawson construction is doing the site development. John Hart designed the site, water system and drainage system. Rick Petros designed the sewage disposal system.

Stone said 70 percent of the $2.2 million in costs will be staying in the community.

Planning for a second eight-home project is underway. Stone says affordable housing is essential in order for the islands to have diversity.

Homes for Islanders was formed in 1997. The first board members were Polda, Stone, Dick Kneipp and John Campbell. The current board consists of Polda, Stone, Campbell, Kneipp, Marni Gendron, Bill Gendron, Leo Michael, Jeff Fitts and Bobby Wilson.

Homes for Islanders hires executive director

posted 04/14/05
Mary Stone, President of Homes for Islanders, a non-profit organization, announced the hiring of Bill White, as Executive Director. White is a resident of Lopez Island. White studied architecture at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and has a substantial work experience in land acquisition and development, construction project management as well as estimating, bidding and negotiating residential construction contracts. Homes for Islanders' new office is in the Guard Street Professional Building.

White will be directing the site development and construction of the first set of eight new homes for very low to low income individuals and families on San Juan Island known as Phase I - Leeward Cove. This project is sold out and will begin construction in the next few months. However, applications are being sought for the second set of eight new homes that will begin construction in the spring of 2006.

Homes for Islanders, is a private non-profit corporation funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (through Rural Development) to assist limited income families interested in building their own homes. Homes for Islanders is awaiting a USDA Rural Development grant award of over $500,000 that will pay for the administrative expenses associated with the 16 new affordable homes. In addition, Homes for Islanders has received a forgivable $80,000 loan from Community Frameworks through a federal program known as Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP) Loan Fund.

Homes for Islanders' programs are for people who cannot afford a significant down payment typically required to purchase a home and large monthly mortgage payments. Upon successful completion of the program, monthly loan payments will be based upon the applicant's current income level and are often less than their current monthly rent. The only out of pocket costs for qualified applicants will be to pay for their credit report and their first year homeowner's insurance premium.

The two-phase construction program is "self-help construction" which means that the majority of labor to build each home is provided by the homeowner. Applications are now available for people desiring this opportunity. Participants must meet specific criteria in order to qualify for the program.

If you are interested in this program and want to build your own home you may request a pre-application form to determine your eligibility from Bill White by telephoning 360-370-5944.

Additionally, this is an opportunity for the residents of San Juan Islands to contribute in this very worthwhile project. You may contribute in financial support, volunteer with your construction skills or provide construction tools for the project. In you wish to contribute; please call Homes for Islanders at 360-370-5944.

$357K loan provided for affordable housing

posted 10/07/04
Homes for Islanders will receive a $357,000 loan provided by the Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC). The loan will be used to purchase and develop five acres of land off of Beaverton Valley Road just outside of Friday Harbor. A "rural cluster" of eight "mutual self-help" homes will be built by the homeowners and volunteers. The community will be called Leeward Cove.

The mission of Homes for Islanders is to work independently or with other housing organizations throughout San Juan County to provide all types of housing and housing assistance to low and moderate income and other residents in need.

RCAC has been involved in mutual self-help housing projects for more than two decades. Through such projects, low- and very low-income rural citizens attain the American dream of homeownership. In a mutual self-help housing program, a group of eight to twelve families and individuals work together under the guidance of a construction supervisor hired by a nonprofit housing developer such as Homes for Islanders. 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.

Affordable housing is desperately needed on San Juan Island, according to John Campbell, Homes for Islanders' development project leader.

"Homes for Islanders was formed in response to a real need for affordable housing that has been exacerbated by growth management legislation in the county," Campbell said.

Homeownership has become increasingly more difficult as an influx of retirees have driven the price of homes skyward, leaving homeownership well out of the reach of most local low- and moderate-income working families.

In fact, according to Washington State University research, San Juan County residents have the greatest gap between household incomes and housing prices of any county in the state. That research says the median county home price is $300,000 while median household income is only $58,200; meaning a median income family can afford only 66 percent of the payment required for a median price home.

"This RCAC loan is the beginning of Homes for Islanders' help so eight hard-working local families can build and own their own homes," Campbell said.

Homes for Islanders is currently in the process of securing a United Stated Department of Agriculture (USDA) 523 grant that would allow the group to make the move from a small band of volunteers to full-fledged nonprofit organization complete with full-time staff.

"The amount of work required to qualify for a USDA 523 grant is incredible. It could have taken one person working full-time a year to accomplish," said Campbell. "But luckily we've had RCAC's help. RCAC has been invaluable in getting us to the point where we can apply for the 523 grant."

RCAC will continue to assist Homes for Islanders as it,"deals with all sorts of little hurdles that they are bound to encounter along the way," according to Art Seavey, RCAC housing specialist based in Lacey, Wash. "Homes for Islanders has done a remarkable job getting to this point given that they have no staff as yet-just dedicated board members doing the work," said