More self-help housing planned
Housing America Corp. plans to return to San Luis, Ariz., in early 2021 to begin work on a nearly 19acre self-help housing subdivision in a joint project.
SOMERTON – Housing America Corp. plans to return to San Luis, Ariz., in early 2021 to begin work on a nearly 19-acre self-help housing subdivision in a joint project with a private developer.
With work being wrapped up on a similar development in Somerton, Rollow Estates, HAC has lined up the first group of families who will contribute their own labor in construction of their homes in the Belleza del Desierto subdivision on the east side of San Luis.
The families are financing their homes through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s mutual self-help housing program. The program allows low- and moderate-income families to access low-interest loans and grants from USDA, in return for doing much of the construction themselves.
HAC, a Somerton-based nonprofit housing corporation, last developed self-help housing in San Luis nearly two decades ago, having since focused on developments in Somerton.
“The mutual self-help program has had a big impact in south Yuma County, and there continues to be a lot of demand for it,” said Thomas Ryan, executive director of HAC. “I don’t think that demand is going to go away for a long time. So while we were coming to the end of Rollow, we started thinking about developing housing elsewhere while we finalized another project in Somerton.”
HAC ended up reaching an agreement with the Sam Group Investment Co. to purchase lots in a nearly 19-acre area, for which the final plat was filed with the county recorder’s office last summer.
In fact, said Ryan, HAC has been in talks over nearly 20 months with Sam Group Investment.
“We began talking with the Sam Group from the time they (began planning) the subdivision project. They wanted it to be designed like the subdivisions we do in Housing America.”
The start of the San Luis subdivision, however, has since lagged, owing in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
Belleza del Desierto (Desert Beauty) will be located on the south side of County 24th Street, between 20th Avenue and Avenue E in San Luis. Utility lines are in place and streets in the subdivision have been paved.
HAC plans for client families to begin in the first quarter of 2021 building their self-help homes on 90 lots in the first phase of home construction. When completed, the subdivision will have about 150 homes.
The families will do all the labor on their homes except electrical, plumbing and roofings projects that must be performed by licensed subcontractors.
Ryan foresees HAC entering in similar join ventures with private developers to develop future self-help subdivisions.
“We hope 2021 will be as good or better than 2020 for being able to help more families have homes of their own homes.”