Media Contact: Andrew Kauders (202) 720-4623
andrew.kauders@usda.gov
Public Contact: La Jaycee Brown, (202) 720-9741
ljbrown@rdmail.rural.usda.gov
U.S. RURAL HOMEOWNERSHIP RATE HITS ALL-TIME HIGH
ORLANDO, FLA., June 11, 1999 -- Three out of four rural Americans now own their homes, a record high, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced today. Glickman, who made the announcement while helping a group of low-income Floridians build their own houses, said a new government estimate shows that 75.1 percent of all rural households and 66.7 percent of all U.S. households own their homes. Both figures are records.
"This is genuine cause for celebration as we observe National Homeownership Week, June 5-12," Glickman said. "Homeownership is a key to fulfilling the American dream. When people own their homes, they build equity for their future and the future of their children, and become more involved in the affairs of their community."
Glickman presented Terika Baker with the key to her new home, which she has been building for the past six months through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Self-Help Housing Program. Like most program participants, Baker, a single mother, is trying to build a better home in which to raise her five-year-old daughter.
"By substituting sweat equity for cash, these people -- most of whom would never otherwise become homeowners -- are able to build a brighter future for themselves and their children," Glickman said.
Along with a crew of USDA volunteers, Glickman and USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Jill Long Thompson labored shoulder to shoulder with Baker and members of 15 other rural households participating in the Self-Help Housing Program. Each family has supplied more than 65 percent of the labor to build their homes in the new Tilden Estates development outside Winter Garden, Fla.
"As we strive to fulfill President Clinton's goal of a national homeownership rate of 67.5 percent in the year 2000, we must make certain that low-income rural people are not forgotten," said Long Thompson. "Every year, USDA's Self-Help Housing, Direct and Guaranteed Loan, and other rural housing programs help about 65,000 rural households join the growing ranks of American homeowners."
USDA provides financial backing for self-help housing developments while a local partner agency acquires the land, develops the site, trains participants in building skills and supervises the construction. USDA's partners for the Winter Garden project are Homes in Partnership Inc., a nonprofit central Florida corporation that creates housing for low-income people, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, and the Orange County Board of Commissioners, which helped finance the project.
USDA's Self-Help Housing Program is active in 43 states and helps 1,500 rural families build homes each year. Participants in a self-help housing development, which typically consists of 12 to 20 households, work as a team, and no one moves into their home until all the houses in the development are completed. For more information on self-help or any other USDA rural housing program, call the USDA Rural Housing Service national office at (202) 720-4323, or visit the website at www.rurdev.usda.gov.
Editor's note: A photo of Secretary Glickman at a Self-Help Housing event is available to view here.
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