WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) applauds a $418,644 federal grant awarded to Cumberland County to help families and individuals build their own affordable homes. The grant will be given to Interfaith Housing of Pennsylvania, a nonprofit homeownership organization, to administer to 21 low income families and individuals in Shippensburg, PA to build their own homes over a two-year period.
“I am pleased that Pennsylvania citizens will be given an opportunity through this program to help build their own homes,” said Senator Casey. “Innovative programs like the Mutual Self-Help Housing Program are tremendous ways of providing low income families with affordable paths to homeownership.”
The Mutual Self-Help Housing Program, a function of the United States Department of Agriculture, makes homes affordable by enabling future homeowners to work on homes themselves. With this investment in the home, or "sweat equity", each homeowner pays less for his or her home. Each qualified applicant is required to complete 65% of the work to build his or her own home.
Technical Assistance Grants and Site Loans are provided to nonprofit and local government organizations like Interfaith Housing of Pennsylvania, which supervise groups of 5 to 12 enrollees in the Self-Help Program. Members of each group help work on each other's homes, moving in only when all the homes are completed.
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