Local stakeholder meeting focuses on affordable starter homes, workforce housing

Bright Block Initiative, south Big Horn County’s new housing nonprofit, hosted a group of local stakeholders including lenders, builders and community members to learn about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s single family housing loan programs on Monday, May 18 at the Greybull library. 

“We need to ask ourselves, what can we do as a community, as a collective, to work together to be able to make sure that our workforce, our young people, the ones that are putting their kids in our schools, have a place to live?” said Bright Block Chair Danae Bales.  “... our youth are leaving. We’re going to have a big problem in about three years, and I’m trying to get everyone to pay attention.”

Jessica Taylor and Lillian Freed with the USDA presented information on the single-family housing direct home loan program, which offers mortgage financing for low-income applicants to help buy, build, improve or repair rural homes. All of south Big Horn County qualifies as rural under USDA guidelines. Very low to low income ranges from $49,650 to $79,450 for a single person; the same for two to four person households. The maximum loan amount, considered to be the purchase price for a modest home in Big Horn County, is $324,700. 

“We are taking applications all year round,” said Taylor. “We’ve been allocated a little over $5.5 million dollars towards our 502 direct program (single family home loans), and that averages out over the last four years to about 28 families, 28 loans, but we don’t want to stop there.”

The direct program does not require down payments and offers competitive interest rates, 5.125% starting in June. With payment assistance through subsidies, a monthly mortgage payment can be reduced to as low as a 1% interest rate. 

“Say there’s a housing payment of $1,500. The subsidy kicks in, let’s say $400 to $500, and it brings our housing payment down to $1,000, so on a monthly basis, that will help a family with extra gas money, extra groceries,” Taylor said. When a buyer refinances or sells, that subsidy money must be paid back. 

The direct loan program is intended for people with limited but stable income. Through local lenders, the USDA can also act as a guarantor for up to 90% of a housing loan. In that case, the lender sets the interest rate, which is fixed. The guaranteed loan program does not offer subsidized payments but also does not have a maximum loan restriction and is based on repayment ability. There is no minimum credit score requirement for either program. Direct applicants should contact their local rural development office, while guaranteed borrowers can contact local lenders. 

Developers were asked to look into building smaller square footage, affordable starter homes. They were also reminded to price responsibly. 

“When you’re building homes and you want to use rural development, you have to kind of think about that price cap, or how much home they can afford through the program. You don’t want to design a bunch of Taj Mahals,” Freed said. 

“Just because the (loan) limit is $324,000 doesn’t mean that we go jacking up housing prices,” Bales added. 

“Just because we’re helping people in a different demographic doesn’t mean that people with a lot of money aren’t all of a sudden not needing houses, they’re coming to this area regardless... there’s money to be made in this area too.”

A future project for Bright Block will be determining how many people actually need homes in south Big Horn County. Through anecdotal evidence, Bales suggested that number could be relatively high, with families contacting her and noting they will have to move out of county or take a different job due to lack of housing. Past surveying in the Greybull area ranked availability and affordability as the biggest obstacles to obtaining housing.

Also available is the 504 repair and rehab loan and grant program, which funds up to $40,000 at 1% interest to assist with repairs that make a home safer. For seniors 62 and older, an additional $10,000 grant is available. Examples of qualifying renovations include electric, plumbing and handicap accessible projects. 

Additional USDA programs are available for multifamily housing. Public projects such as water infrastructure and community facilities can also be sponsored through USDA funding and must be applied for by nonprofits or governing bodies. 

Another resource which can be used for budgeting or learning about credit scores is Wyoming Housing Network. Wyoming Community Development Authority is available for housing finance resources. The information line 2211 also offers housing help. Bright Block Initiative hopes to be an educational resource in the future, with classes offered to the community. For now, Bright Block has offered to act as a liaison for existing services. 

USDA rural development programs can be researched at https://www.rd.usda.gov. The state rural development office is at (307) 233-6700. Bright Block is available at brightblockinitiative.org.