Not everyone has heard of the Housing and Community Facilities Programs (HCFP) because they provide financing for many types of loans in addition to the conventional home loan in the city or suburbs of a city. The loans they make start with loans for rural people for housing. They also provide funds for rural community facilities, apartments for low-income people and the elderly. They provide funds for so many different types of loans, including farmworker housing, day care centers, nursing homes, and schools. Also included are police and fire stations, hospitals, and libraries. The HCFP is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The HCFP has a Loan Guarantee Program that is similar to FHA or VA loans where they are not actually financing the money. With this type of program, a borrower can borrow up to 100 percent of the appraised value of the home they want to buy. Borrowers who qualify for this type of loan can earn 115 percent of the area median income in which they live.

The Individual Housing and Community Facilities Programs are for the following:

1) single-family rural dwelling;

2) reforms and repair of a house;

3) programs that provide assistance to persons with disabilities, low-income rural residents of multi-family housing, and the elderly.

Then there is the HCFP Direct Loan Program that makes it possible for individuals or families to qualify for a home loan at a reasonable interest rate. There are limits on loans made under this program and they are different depending on the area in which you live. In addition, borrowers using this program must be in the low income range, which falls below eighty percent of the median income for their community.

There are many programs that fall under the HCFP and another one is the HCFP Mutual Self Help Housing Program. This program is to help certain people build their own homes. These borrowers must be in the very low income range of approximately fifty percent of the median for the area in which they live. Borrowers actually do at least six to five percent of the construction of not only their home but also the homes of other borrowers in the same category. Of course, there are professional builders who oversee this construction.

There are also HCFP loans for reconditioning for very low-income borrowers. These grants or loans can be repaid over a period of up to two years and the interest rate is only one percent. In addition, there is a Rural Development Real Estate For Sale program that includes real estate owned by the government and falls under the category of potential foreclosures.

The HCFP and USDA make it possible for the people of this nation who live in rural areas of this country to provide housing for their families. Most of the citizens who live in rural areas belong to the very low income category and are given the opportunity to help themselves by participating in the construction of their own houses with the help of HCFP. The HCFP helps even poor families who have to live in overcrowded multi-family housing and in areas where they actually have to live off the land and grow their own food etc. If they weren’t assisted by the HCFP, they couldn’t even do that.