Self Help Housing

   For more than 1,400 of the working poor in rural Southeastern Oklahoma, the American dream of home ownership has become a reality through Little Dixie Community Action Agency's Self-Help Housing Program.
 

    The agency operates in a five-county area where the poverty rate exceeds 30 percent.
 

    Little Dixie has been involved in a variety of housing development programs over the years and the most successful homeownership effort is Self-Help Housing.
 

    Through the self-help program, new homes are constructed by and for low- and very low-income families in Choctaw, McCurtain, Pushmataha, Bryan and Atoka Counties.
 

    The program utilizes groups of from four to six families who work on each other's houses until all homes are complete. USDA Rural Development mortgage loans provide low-interest loans, but all families must repay those loans.
 

    Family members are required to perform 65 percent of the labor necessary to construct the homes and Little Dixie construction supervisors help train the workers.
 

    This allows each homeowner to gain thousands of dollars in equity before they move in. Group construction methods also allow for bulk purchasing of materials.
 

    Little Dixie staff members also help program participants in preparing loan applications, selection and securing of a site and other efforts needed for becoming a homeowner.
 

    The program has allowed many families to become owners of new homes and house payments are often less than rental costs previously made by the participants.
 

    Information concerning the program can be obtained by calling:

 

Choctaw County, 580-326-5434

McCurtain County, 580-286-6472

Pushmataha County, 580-298-5572

Bryan County 580-920-2479

Atoka County 580-364-0360.
 

Terri Harless
Self-Help Housing Program Director
 

Click here for Self Help Conference details

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