CHIP, USDA and PG&E Celebrate National Homeownership Month with Cottonwood Groundbreaking June 1
CHIP KICKS OFF NATIONAL HOMEOWNERSHIP MONTH WITH COTTONWOOD GROUNDBREAKING
COTTONWOOD—June is National Homeownership Month, and Community Housing Improvement Program celebrated with a groundbreaking at Longspur Park Subdivision on Sadie Lane, where eight families will begin building new homes.
Those families, staff from USDA Rural Development, and state and local government representatives gathered on Sadie Lane and symbolically broke ground with golden shovels. The event was sponsored by NeighborWorks America and PG&E.
Lisa Lowden is a current tenant of CHIP’s Linden Apartments in Redding, and has been on the interest list for the self-help program for four years. “Everybody I’ve worked with so far has been so kind and so patient, walking us through this step by step,” she said. Matt Bellomo, her neighbor at Linden is also building his home on the lot next to Lisa’s, and they plan to be “forever neighbors.”
Lane Rickard, Senator Ted Gaines’ District Representative, grew up in Cottonwood and is excited to see families constructing affordable housing. He thanked CHIP for “continuing your legacy of helping people.”
Under CHIP’s self-help program, families build their homes in groups of five to nine families under the supervision of CHIP’s construction staff. Each household dedicates at least 30 hours per week in labor towards building their new homes and help each other during the process, which takes about nine months. All homes must be finished before anyone moves in.
House plans included 3-5 bedrooms priced under $200,000, with no down payment, affordable monthly payments and low fixed interest rates. USDA Rural Development provides funding assistance for these programs. Builders must make at or below 30 percent median income for the county in which they build, have decent credit, and earn enough income to make monthly payments on the loan.
CHIP also has other developments starting soon and maintains an interest list. For more information about self-help housing, visit chiphousing.org
