Family Resources of New Orleans will celebrate National Homeownership Month by cutting ribbons on three newly built houses and breaking ground for two additional houses – all in Luling.
The ceremony is scheduled at 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 10, in the 200 and 300 blocks of Allie Lane.
Family Resources of New Orleans, an 18-year-old community housing development nonprofit organization, will observe the celebration by cutting the ribbon on its 73rd Self-Help Home constructed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development.
Paula Pete, director of housing and special projects, said the organization has built 75 houses in St. Charles Parish in the last years in areas including Ama, Destrehan, Luling, Hahnville and Boutte.
“We are rolling in St. Charles,” Pete said of another two houses planned for construction on Boutte Estates Drive. Some 27 houses have been built there to date. “St. Charles Parish is a wonderful community and it had a lack of affordable housing for people who wanted to stay in the parish, but couldn’t afford housing. It lacks starter homes.”
Pete said the group first came to the parish on invitation from the Killona Civic Association. The lowest house note in the parish is $206 a month with homeowners insurance.Founded in 1997, the organization works in collaboration with urban, rural, public and private-partners to increase affordable homeownership opportunities among low-income families in the parishes of St. John, St. Charles, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, New Orleans and St. Tammany.
Family Resources has an office in Boutte.
Executive Director Kelita Pete said affordable housing continues to be a major need in the metropolitan area for families forced to relocate after Hurricanes Katrina and Isaac.
The agency is a partner with USDA Rural Development, which is celebrating its 50-year Mutual Self-Help Housing Anniversary.
USDA Rural Development makes direct financing available for Self-Help Housing participants to build their own homes. Family Resources of New Orleans started this program in St. Charles Parish in 2004.
The Self-Help Housing Program targets rural parishes in the metropolitan New Orleans area and is available to very low- to low-income families meeting HUD area median income guidelines. USDA offers 1 percent interest construction loan financing and Family Resources of New Orleans provides technical assistance to families who prefer building their homes.
The group works with families in groups to guide them through the process and assure regulations are met. Families help each other build their homes.
For this program, Family Resources of New Orleans won first place in “Housing Affordability” at the National Development Council’s biennial conference held in Washington, D.C., in 2011.
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