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Increasing Access to Rural Housing Service Programs
In summer 1997, the Housing Assistance Council (HAC) was asked to lead a initiative to increase access to the housing programs of U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Housing Service (RHS), focusing on low-income Native American communities and southwest border colonias. HAC has worked with two colonia groups and four Native American communities under this initiative, recently encouraging them to apply for direct funding from RHS to continue their efforts.
By providing a comprehensive program of outreach, technical assistance and training, HAC worked to develop the capacity of six organizations serving targeted communities in historically underserved areas in the colonias along the Texas-Mexico border and Native American Communities to enable them to fully benefit from RHS programs. As part of this effort, HAC also suggested policies and procedures to RHS to further open program access.
Designated representatives from each community were trained to prepare, or "package," RHS loan and grant applications for low-income individuals and families, and to provide credit and homeownership counseling to lead to successful applications as well as retention of housing.
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HAC's commitment to this project was based on its understanding that carefully chosen local organizations are most familiar with the nuances of culture and the language of their constituents. This knowledge enables local organizations to build the trust needed to get their underserved constituents through the complicated and, to many, completely unfamiliar process of mortgage lending. This project furthered HAC's core objectives of promoting a strong and effective federal role in rural, low-income housing, increasing minority participation in low-income rural housing programs and assisting in the creation and expansion of development capacity in high need rural areas such as the border colonias region and Native American communities.
Participating organizations included:
- Community Council of Southwest Texas, Texas
- Navaho Partnership for Housing, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah
- Neighborhood Housing Services of Dimmit County, Texas
- Northern Cheyenne HIP, Montana
- Oti-Kaga, Inc., South Dakota
- Standing Rock Housing Authority, North Dakota and South Dakota
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