A nationally recognized California community development organization, Self-Help Enterprises (SHE), works with low-income families, often in rural areas to build and sustain healthy homes and communities. Since 1965, SHE has served over 65,000 families, many of whom are the farmworkers who provide our food but are unable to find decent affordable housing, including lack of water and sewer services, for their families. There is a critical housing shortage in the area and affordable for-sale housing stock, in particular.

The Fresno sites are part of a previous redevelopment area and are also complementary to SHE’s nearby mutual self-help housing program development. Both sites are located near grocery stores, jobs, and public transport. SHE focused on providing homeownership opportunities for low-income families because homeownership is the single most powerful economic tool to break the cycle of poverty, create wealth and equitable opportunity in low-income communities who have not previously had access to homeownership and financial counseling, homebuyer services including realtors, and mortgages.

In addition to quality new affordable homes, SHE provides all of its buyers with wraparound services such as multiple types and levels of homebuyer education, financial counseling and budget management courses. SHE also provides secondary loans through numerous homeownership programs and loans for water well drilling or replacement.

The NMTC financing will enable additional low-income families who cannot qualify for the self-help housing program to purchase a home. SHE used NMTC financing to subsidize the difference between the cost to construct and the affordable $290,000 purchase price. Without the financing, SHE would have had to delay the project.

Nonprofit affordable homeownership developers lack access to affordable capital due to misconceptions about the risk of developing homes and selling to low- to moderate- income homebuyers in underserved communities. NMTCs are the only federal tax credit available to help fill that gap.
This project resulted in 19 low-income families purchasing a home in which they already have substantiale equity. This is an investment in the community, families, and their descendants for generations to come.