The Crossville Housing Authority is utilizing federal grant funding to expand its USDA Self-Help Housing Loan Program to help low-income families in the Upper Cumberland achieve homeownership through sweat equity and repair assistance.
Housing Counselor Victoria Ray said the grant funding supports the staff and equipment necessary to guide participants through the home repair process at no cost to the homeowner. Ray said the program allows families to save thousands of dollars by performing their own repairs under the supervision of a professional contractor.
“The loan is fantastic, there’s no interest, there’s no mortgage insurance, there’s no down payment,” Ray said. “And so it is based on your household income and it’s for low-income folks only, very low to low income. And so the payments are based on their income, and that helps them be able to afford it.”
Ray said the program is available to families in an eight-county service area who meet specific income and credit requirements. Ray said a family of four in Cumberland County, for example, can earn up to $60,500 annually to qualify for the assistance.
“It’s amazing how many single mothers that I get coming through,” Ray said. “And it just, it, to me, it would seem so scary being a single mom, but these ladies are fantastic and, and you know, they want a place for their children to grow up that’s stable and theirs, you know.”
The program covers a wide range of essential home improvements including electrical work, plumbing, and HVAC systems. Ray said participants are permitted to sub out up to 20 percent of the labor for specialized tasks like roofing that they may not be able to perform themselves.
“Sometimes you get in there, though, and you start pulling some siding off or something and you do have issues that you didn’t realize you were going to have,” Ray said. “And we always, we always put contingency money in there that way if something happens like that, that the money will be there to take care of it.”
Ray said the agency is also coupling the USDA program with a secondary $5,000 grant from an organization called Fahe to assist with closing costs or additional repairs. Ray said the goal of the initiative is to transition residents out of public housing and into stable, owned homes to free up rental inventory for others in need.
“With the USDA loan, you know, we’re trying to get people out of like public housing and into purchasing a home so that we can open up more slots for our rentals, you know, so that not as many people can be homeless,” Ray said. “Having them being able to do the loan, being low-income, you know, you can have a job at Taco Bell, you don’t have to work somewhere where you make, you know, $20, $30 an hour, you know, you can do it with making $14 an hour, you know, so it makes it so, it makes it so much better.”
Interested residents can contact the Crossville Housing Authority to begin a pre-qualification application and receive credit counseling.