What can you buy for a $1? A number of Pacific Northwest communities have discovered that under HUD's Dollar Homes initiative, local governments can buy HUD Homes, properties that have been vacant and on the market for six months, for just $1.

A work crew from the Idaho Habitat for Humanity in Idaho installs siding on their Dollar Home.

The work crew is busy cutting siding that will be installed on the Dollar Home.

Since the program's implementation in 2000, 65 homes have been sold to communities throughout Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

The Dollar Homes initiative is very popular, particularly in smaller communities where there are few financial or staff resources to tackle housing and community development needs, and little access to federal or state funds.

The criteria to participate are very flexible, and any profit generated from the sale of a house must go to support local housing and community development initiatives serving low and moderate-income families. Governments may also pass on the savings and the properties to nonprofit housing providers for a variety of affordable housing opportunities.

Aberdeen, Washington, the first city to take advantage of the program, has purchased seven houses since June 2000. The city partnered with local nonprofit and faith-based housing developers who rehabilitated the homes and either sold or rented them to families meeting the low or moderate-income criteria. The city used one home as payment against a demolition contract to remove a blighted building that had plagued the entrance to the city for years. Use of sales proceeds in this way help serve larger community development goals for Aberdeen, and they are anxiously awaiting the next available $1 home.

The flexibility of the program encouraged the city of Odessa, Washington, population 957, to purchase its first home in 2000. When the city could not find a moderate-income homeowner to purchase the home, much in need of repair, it sold the property to the highest bidder. The $10,000 generated from that sale went to support maintenance and updating of the local pool and playfield - an important city resource for kid's activities, particularly in this small, hot Eastern Washington town. The city has since purchased a second house, which has also been sold, with proceeds earmarked for additional park enhancements.

Most of the $1 homes have been used as resources to further local affordable housing initiatives. Shoshone County in Idaho partnered with Habitat for Humanity to renovate two homes and sell them to families participating in their affordable housing program. Stories abound from other communities working with nonprofit and faith-based housing developers, creating a continuum of housing opportunities, from temporary shelters to affordable rental units to homes for first time buyers.

Sometimes, it truly is the little things that can make a big difference. For Pacific Northwest communities, it is the flexibility of the Dollar Homes initiative that makes it such an important resource for funding local affordable housing and community development goals.

More information on the initiative is available on the Internet.