Mutual Self-Help Housing grant

Owning a home opens up a world of opportunities. A home is an asset that helps families finance education or a business. A home could be the reason you learn how to use a power drill, or the reason you start your first garden. Homeownership helps people become more financially literate all while...

Though National Homeownership Month has ended, the stories of people in rural America achieving that American dream never do. Last month I had the good fortune to visit the homes of two such people in Moab, Utah: Heather Gallagher and Lynn Chenard. Both women live and work in the town of Moab, Utah...

Jessica and Jason Smith used to watch home improvement shows in which old and deteriorating houses are completely renovated. They never thought they’d be the ones giving a neglected home new life—until now. While building their dream of homeownership, they are quite literally helping revitalize a...

Homeownership Month 2015 is already coming to the end, and I couldn’t be happier with the celebrations I’ve participated in, read about or listened to stories of. In 30 days I have visited seven states across our nation to meet the people that work for and with USDA Rural Development to help make...

I wake up every day excited to work for an agency that gives rural American families three intangible gifts through homeownership: hope, surprise and joy. They experience a sense of hope when they find there are affordable options to become homeowners. They surprise themselves by doing the...

The holidays will be extra special this year for 11 families in Reedley, Calif., who received the keys to their homes during a celebration ceremony December 19. The group spent nearly 10 months building each other's homes through USDA's Mutual Self-Help Housing Loan program. The rules of the program...

Dozens of people gathered in Monticello, Ky., on Wednesday to break ground on a project in which five local families began the process of building their own homes. Great partnerships can lead to great projects – and this event highlighted several strategic partners that worked incredibly hard to...