Habitat for Humanity of Caroline County has been awarded a $2,000,000 Virginia Housing Development Program grant from the George Washington Regional Commission (GWRC). GWRC is the planning district commission established by the General Assembly for the region comprising the City of Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford (known collectively as “Planning District 16”).
Combining the GWRC grant with funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 523 Mutual Self-Help and 502 Direct Loan programs will enable Caroline Habitat to build 20 single family homes in Caroline County by June 2024. A minimum of twelve (12) homes will be constructed and sold using the USDA 523 Mutual Self-Help Method. In addition, one home will be constructed for a disabled veteran assisted by students in the Caroline High
School Career and Technical Education (CTE) carpentry class. This home will be built and sold at cost to a qualified veteran buyer who will use either the USDA 502 Direct Loan or a Veterans Administration Loan to purchase the home once completed. Based on demand, a local for profit contractor will be brought in to build some of the homes.
The USDA (Rural Development) Mutual Self-Help Housing program creates opportunities for very low and low income families in rural areas to become homeowners. The program groups together 4 to 6 or more families to contribute 65% of the labor building each other's homes. The contributed labor, called "sweat equity", provides the down payment on the mortgage. The mortgage is a USDA Section 502 direct loan, the only federal funding to combine sweat equity homeownership, technical assistance, and affordable home loans for rural Americans. Interest rates are as low as 1% to make homeownership affordable for low and very low incomes.
Caroline Habitat will locate and pre-approve the buyers using the USDA 502 loan program to ensure the homes built by any for-profit developer meet affordability requirements. Families with incomes less than 80% of the area’s average median income (AMI) are eligible. Both three and four bedroom home models will be provided with payments that never exceed more than 30% of household income.
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