Self-help housing effort seeks applicants

Helping working families get into a home. That’s what the Mutual Self-Help Housing Program does.

Offered through the Community Action Partnership in Kalispell, the program is looking for eight families for eight homes that will be built over the next two to three months. After that they will need 16 more families for a future project.

Participants need to have a job, but don’t need a down payment. Instead, the sweat equity they put into their home, along with helping with the other seven homes, serves as a down payment. People don’t need perfect credit to qualify.

A minimum of 35 hours a week is required, and that can include help from family members and friends.

Monthly house payments are typically what people have been paying for rent, Development Director Galen Amy said. Mortgages are based on income. A four-person family’s income threshold is $44,550.

Individuals also can apply for the program, which is “very clean” and not full of red tape, Housing Director Maren McCleary said.

“The program is an exceptional opportunity for those who never thought they would own a home,” Amy said. Participants learn life skills, go through a one-day team-building session and also receive tool and safety training. An experienced site foreman works with each team to make sure they’re doing things right.

A lot of work hours are evenings and weekends.

The Kalispell office has been involved in the program for eight years and has built 136 homes.

“The impact to the local economy is huge,” Community Action Partnership Executive Director Doug Rauthe said about the self-help program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Agency.

The Energy Star-certified homes will feature three bedrooms, two baths and a two-car garage in Spring Creek Estates on the west side of Kalispell.

Friendships are formed while in the program. It takes 10 months to build the eight homes. The new homeowners don’t move in until all eight homes are complete.

An open house for a recently completed project will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, with a lunch provided at 12:30 p.m. on Battle Ridge Drive west of Three Mile Drive. Reservations are not needed for the open house.

Those interested in the program can call 752-6565 to get an application or stop by the office at 214 N. Main St.

Reporter Caleb Soptelean may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at csoptelean@dailyinterlake.com