RANGELEY — Community-Concepts of Maine (CCI) and USDA-Rural Development
are working with the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust and the PARC
Foundation to provide self-help housing opportunities in the Rangeley
region.

Through the Self-Help Homeownership Program, four to six families work together as a team under the guidance of CCI to
build their own three-bedroom homes. CCI provides the tools, construction
education and supervision, and the families provide two days of labor
each week.

By helping to build their own homes, families may save up to
$20,000 and they never make a payment during construction. Most often
families that participate in the program build their homes on
weekends, but they can work during the week if everyone agrees.

Kelly Lord and her three children recently moved into their three-bedroom house on a private lot in South Paris. 

A little over 18 months ago, Lord felt that her life had hit
bottom and she had little hope that it would improve. She had just ended an eight-year relationship and was faced with
raising her family alone. Employed part-time, she was living paycheck to
paycheck while trying to feed and house her children.

Lord was turned down by the bank several times before, but completed the housing application and was approved for a self-help house loan.

Over the next 11 months, Lord and five other families spent weekends
working on each other’s houses and Lord and her children moved in on Nov. 21.

Community-Concepts of Maine would like to provide a public tour of self-help homes built in
Oxford County. Anyone who is interested in learning
about the program is encouraged to attend. The tour will allow folks to
look at the homes, talk with the families that built them and learn how
the program works. The date of the tour will be determined based on the
interest level in the Rangeley region. 

For
more information on the Self-Help Homeownership Program in Rangeley, contact Rebecca
Kurtz at 864-7311, ext. 5. For information about qualifications for the
program or to complete an application, contact Susan Bradford at
Community-Concepts of Maine at 739-6514.