No one will be allowed to move into their home until all six have been built.
By Noreen Coolidge
Special to the Sun Journal

WILTON – Six low-income families will soon own homes they built in Wilton.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the first home was held Wednesday on three acres on Walker Hill. The home will be the first of its kind in Franklin County.

Two other homes will be built on Prospect Avenue, and one each on Orchard Drive, Applegate and Temple Hill. All six are expected to be completed in 10 to 12 months.

Self Help Housing Manager Tom Gallagher handed a shovel to Debbie Craig, who will own the home being built on Orchard Drive. Walker Hill property owners Jeremy Racklif and Stephanie Hawkins were unavailable for the ceremony. Craig took their place to lift the first shovel of dirt on the land.

Craig moved to Wilton from Washington about 10 years ago. She has a 19-year-old son in college and a 16-year-old who attends Mount Blue High School in Farmington.

Craig said a friend, her son, and her 71-year-old father attended required classes and will also help her build. “This is a dream I never dared to have,” Craig said.

The Self Help Housing Program through Community Concepts, a social service agency in Paris, makes the financing and construction of the homes possible through grants from Rural Development. The grants are used by Community Concepts to buy land, set aside money for low-income individuals to borrow and provide technical advice.

Under the program, six low-income families in a geographical area choose their lot from land purchased by Community Concepts and help one another build their homes. All of the homes must be completed before anyone can move in.

The foundation, plumbing and electrical work are done by professionals. The homeowners attend a 12-week course covering the mortgage process, the loan program, preconstruction, and safety with a Community Concepts construction supervisor. The homeowners choose the siding, roofing, interior paint, carpet, flooring and cabinets. All the homes are three-bedroom, ranch-style.

“We try to fully educate them before they start,” Gallagher said. “We put six families together who have never met each other to form a cohesive group and go out and build. The nicest thing about this program is that you learn how to fish. No one feeds you,” he added.

There is no down payment, interest rates are as low as 1 percent and there is instant equity of up to $20,000 gained through “sweat equity” earned by agreeing to help build all homes in the group. The interest rate is subsidized according to income. Participants must meet certain requirements, including having or obtaining a good credit rating and an ability to pay the monthly mortgage.

Gallagher said a total of 88 homes have been built in Oxford and Androscoggin counties through the program over the past nine years. “We are anxious to get started in Franklin County,” he said.

Gallagher said a total of 12 homes will be built in Wilton over the next two years.

There are still openings for applicants to the program for next year, Gallagher said, and anyone interested may call Community Concepts at 743-7716 to express interest in the Self Help Housing Program.

More homes are planned for other areas in Franklin County in the near future.

Dennis Lajoie, director of Housing and Real Estate Development, said the groundbreaking is appropriate because the month of June is National Home Ownership month. He said it is also the anniversary of when the Self Help Housing Program was started in 1963, with the first home being built in California with a group of three participants.

Since then, 34,853 homes have been built under the program, with $1.6 billion provided for low-income mortgages.

“When these homes have been completed in Wilton we have assisted 100 families become home owners in Oxford, Androscoggin and Franklin counties,” Lajoie said.

Charlene Chase, executive director of Community Concepts, said the program is in line with the goal of bringing families together.

Attending the ceremony was state Rep. Thomas Saviello, staff from Rural Development and Community Concepts from Oxford, Androscoggin and Franklin counties, Wilton Town Manager Peter Nielsen, and Wilton Selectmen Keith Swett and Norman Gould.

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