HUD ANNOUNCES $7.3 MILLION "SWEAT EQUITY" HOUSING GRANT TO COMMUNITY FRAMEWORKS OF SPOKANE & BREMERTON
One of four winners nationwide, Community Frameworks will use funds for
at least 393 Self Help Units in Idaho, Montana and Washington State

SEATTLE - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today awarded $7,361,863 in Self Help Homeownership Opportunity Program "sweat equity" funds to Community Frameworks, Inc., a non-profit housing developer with offices in Bremerton and Spokane. Community Frameworks will be expected to produce at least 393 units of self-help housing in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Community Frameworks was one of four organizations to be competitively awarded SHOP grants today totaling $26.7 million to produce 1,500 affordable, self-help units for low-income individuals and families across the country. The other three organizations winning SHOP grants today were Habitat for Humanity International of Americus, Georgia, the Housing Assistance Council of Washington, D.C. and the Tierra del Sol Corporation of Anthony, New Mexico. at least 1,500 affordable homes for low-income individuals and families.

"These grants are about rolling up your sleeves and getting the job done," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "With a little investment and a lot of elbow grease, these organizations, volunteers and the families work side-by-side to build their homes from the ground up."

"There may be no quicker way to understand what it means to own a home than to build your own home," said HUD’s Northwest Regional Administrator Mary McBride. "Over the years, Community Frameworks and its affiliates has given hundreds of families across Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington the opportunity to do that. Thanks to this HUD grant, hundreds more will get the chance."

Over the past five years, Community Frameworks has used SHOP funds to help its 47 affiliates (see below) construct 922 self-help houses - 166 self-help homes in Idaho, 178 in Montana, 120 in Oregon and 458 in Washington state.

Community Frameworks will make SHOP funds available to 22 affiliates to buy land and build or make necessary infrastructure improvements that support new construction and rehabilitation of the SHOP units. Funds will also be used for administration of the grant. The units will be single-family detached and multifamily dwellings. Ownership will be fee simple, condominium or land trust. Completed units will be sold to low-income homebuyers who have contributed a significant amount of sweat equity toward the construction of their homes. Volunteer labor will also be used. Community Frameworks will produce a minimum of 393 SHOP housing units.

The SHOP program provides federal grants on a competitive basis to national and regional nonprofit organizations and consortia that have experience in administering self-help housing programs. The funds must be used to purchase land and install or improve infrastructure, which together may not exceed an average investment of $15,000 per dwelling. Grantees may carry out activities directly and/or propose to distribute SHOP funds to local nonprofit affiliates that
will acquire and prepare the land for construction, select homebuyers, coordinate the homebuyer sweat equity and volunteer efforts, and assist in the arrangement of interim and permanent financing for the homebuyers.

Homebuyers must contribute a minimum of 100 hours of sweat equity on the construction of their homes and/or the homes of other homebuyers participating in the local self-help housing program. Self-help housing or sweat equity involves the homebuyer’s participation in the construction of the housing, which can include, but is not limited to, assisting in the painting, carpentry, trim work, drywall, roofing and siding for the housing. All newly constructed units must receive certification as an ENERGY STAR Qualified New Home and all appliances and products or features which are replaced in rehabilitated units must be ENERGY STAR qualified.

Labor contributed by volunteers also helps buyers who are unable to perform their sweat equity tasks due to disabilities. The sweat equity and labor contributions by the homebuyers and volunteers significantly reduce the cost of the housing.

Most of the families who benefit from SHOP homes are first-time homeowners so the new home fulfills a lifelong
dream. The organizations that receive the SHOP grants also ensure the new homeowners can afford to stay in their homes for the long term to provide a safe, healthy, stable environment to raise children, access jobs and build community.

Since 1996, when Congress first appropriated SHOP funds, the program and numerous volunteers has provided more than $360 million in federal grants to create more than 23,000 units of affordable, homeownership housing that have transformed lives and neighborhoods.

The 47 organizations affiliated with Community Framework, Inc., include:

Idaho
Idaho Development and Housing Organization, Caldwell
Mercy Housing Idaho, Twin Falls
SouthEastern Idaho Community Action Agency, Pocatello
Eastern Idaho Community Action Partnership, Idaho Falls

Oregon
Community Action Team St. Helens, St Helens
Proud Ground, Portland
Housing for People, Incorporated, Hood River
GroundWorks Community Development, Medford
Farmworker Housing Development Corporation ,Woodburn
Community Home Builders, McMinnville
Clackamas Community Land Trust, Milwaukie
Umpqua Community Development Corporation, Roseburg
Willamette Neighborhood Housing Services, Corvallis
Community Services Consortium, Corvallis
St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County, Eugene

Washington
Joint City of Republic-Ferry County Housing Authority, Republic
Washington Agricultural Families Assistance, Renton
Upper Valley MEND/SHARE Community Land Trust, Leavenworth
Saratoga Community Housing, Freeland
San Juan Community Home Trust, Friday Harbor
OPAL Community Land Trust, Eastsound
Northwest Housing Development Tacoma
Lower Columbia CAP, Longview
Lopez Community Land Trust, Lopez Island
Longview Housing Authority, Longview
Kitsap Co Consolidated Housing Authority dba Housing Kitsap, Silverdale
Whatcom-Skagit Housing, Bellingham
Housing Resource Board, Bainbridge Island
Housing Hope Properties, Everett
Housing Authority of the County of Clallam, Port Angeles
Homeward Bound CLT, Port Angeles
Homes for Islanders, Friday Harbor
Community Frameworks, HomeStarts Program, Spokane
Community Action Center (Whitman County), Pullman
Columbia Valley Housing Association, Wenatchee
Catholic Charities Housing Services, Yakima
Blue Mountain Action Council, Walla Walla

Montana
NeighborWorks, Great Falls SHL, Great Falls
Northern Rocky Mountain Resource Conservation and Develop me, Livingston
NeighborWorks, Great Falls, Great Falls
NeighborWorks Montana, Greath Falls
Laurel Development Corporation, Laurel
Housing Montana, Billings
Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana, Kalispell
District IV Human Resources Development Council (HRDC), Havre
National Affordable Housing Network, Butte
Salish-Kootenai Housing Authority, Pablo

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