NEWS RELEASE Contact: Kathy Beisner 302-697-4333

MILFORD, DE June 5, 2002 – Following a meeting at the Maryland Department of Agriculture in Annapolis, Luis Luna armed with a hammer rolled up his sleeves with several people putting "sweat equity" into home ownership. Mr. Luna, Associate Administrator for Rural Development, and other government officials joined local families in celebrating National Home Ownership Month. They literally hung siding, built walls and nailed subflooring at Cedar Creek Landing, a housing subdivision just off of Route 1 South of Milford.

"This is the best part of my job, helping families achieve their dreams," said Luna. "The Bush Administration is committed to helping people realize the American Dream of home ownership and I can tell you that there is no better feeling than to put hammer to nail and work side-by-side with these families in helping them do just that."

Mr. Luna along with State Director for Rural Development, Marlene Elliott drove nails into what would become a first time homeowner’s dream. The two officials participated in a portion of the USDA Rural Development Self-Help Housing Program that provides affordable housing to lower income families. Twenty families will build their own homes with the help of a $273,600 Self-Help Housing Technical Assistance Grant. The grant was presented to Milford Housing Development Corporation who will administer the self-help program. In addition, the non-profit agency received a $200,000 site loan from Rural Development to help with infrastructure development for streets and utilities at Cedar Creek Landing. The National Council of Agricultural Life and Labor Research Fund, Inc. (NCALL) is also assisting with the project.

Grant funds are used to pay for such expenses as administrative costs, salary for the construction foreman and certain power tools. Under the self-help program, families, who usually have full time jobs, work nights and weekends to build their own homes. With the help of a professional construction foreman, the families provide most of the labor. "This is a terrific program that requires all families to work together on each others homes with no one moving in until all homes are competed," said Marlene Elliott. "The best part of the program is that the families become friends long before they become neighbors and at the same time learn new skills."

The families receive a low interest loan from Rural Development to purchase their home. Because of their "sweat equity", there is no down payment and the mortgage and monthly payments are more affordable. There are three phases of construction planned at Cedar Creek with 6-7 families in each group. The first group of families have a target completion date of September 2002.

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"The commitment to working on the homes every weekend is very demanding," said Cynthia Smith Stevens, a soon to be homeowner who works a full-time job and has three boys to raise. "Working seven days a week is hard, but we are all excited about moving in and seeing the smiles on my boys’ faces makes it all worth it."

For more information on USDA Rural Development’s Self-Help Housing Program, call the Rural Development Local Office at (302) 856-3990 extension 4 or their TTY phone at (302) 697-4303, or Milford Housing Development Corporation at (302) 422-1050. You may also visit the USDA Rural Development website at www.rurdev.usda.gov.

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