Help for Individuals

The Housing Assistance Council does not offer direct financial assistance to individuals.

HAC's loans and other services are directed to local groups that construct affordable rural housing. Individuals are welcome to purchase HAC's publications or attend trainings and conferences, if they wish, but these are targeted to local government and nonprofit developers and therefore may not be of much use to someone who is trying to find housing rather than build it.

In general, national organizations help state and local groups, not individuals. Local groups are best suited to helping individuals because they understand the unique characteristics of their communities. National groups may be able to provide you with referrals to local groups or other national groups. They may have mailing lists, lists of groups they work with, a membership list (not all national groups have members), or some kind of directory.

Some national groups are very large and do help individuals; they have branch offices or representatives to administer the programs. Christmas in April and Habitat for Humanity are two well-known organizations that operate in this way. The national office of an organization like this would probably give you information about their programs and a referral to their branch nearest to you.

Besides asking national groups, you can also find out about local groups by looking in the telephone book, libraries, and career information centers. Personal contacts are often good sources of information--ask family, friends, co-workers, anyone you know if they know of any housing programs in the area. Churches and other religious organizations often have connections with housing programs or even run their own.

Once you have a few names of local organizations, you can ask them for referrals to other local groups. If you call a group and are told that they have no program to help you, always ask if they know of any other organization that might be able to help you.

It may turn out that there is no program in your area that can help you in exactly the way you want. In this situation you could take advantage of the programs that are available; for example, instead of getting a rental subsidy, you might get into a self-help housing program or a tenants' rights group or a job training program.

Below are links to websites that may be helpful
to you.

National Organizations

State Housing Agencies

Community Action Agencies (searchable by state)

Disability Related

Native Americans

Mortgages

Other Helpful Sites

Other Resources (by state)

Jobs with Nonprofit Organizations

Volunteer Opportunities

Legal Aid

This list should help you find appropriate information that meets your needs. You may have to do a lot of searching, but remember the end result will be worth it. This list is not a comprehensive listing of all available resources, especially for individual states and local areas. The Housing Assistance Council claims no responsibility for information on any of these sites.

If you have suggestions about additional resources to include on this list, please send an e-mail to hac@ruralhome.org