Dream of Home Ownership To Come True for 9 Rancho Cordova Families

Rancho Cordova and the Sacramento Habitat for Humanity are currently in negotiations to build nine houses on Investment Circle, a street located off of Folsom Boulevard between Coloma Road and Mills Park Drive. Once plans are finalized the organization will begin to look for candidates in the Rancho Cordova area to take over ownership of them.

The Sacramento Habitat for Humanity is an affiliate of the more widely known Habitat for Humanity, an organization dedicated to building new homes for people who would otherwise not be able to afford one. Habitat for Humanity has been in existence for 32 years and has built over 600,000 homes so far. To date Sacramento Habitat for Humanity has built 67 homes in the Sacramento area, but this is the first time they will be focusing their attention on Rancho Cordova.

Ken Cross, the CEO of Sacramento Habitat for Humanity, said that the group’s interest in building in the area has been equaled by the city’s interest in them.

“We’re interested, they’re interested,” he said. “They are very open and receptive to housing their residents.” The collaboration started in January last year when the city invited the group to come to one of their functions.

“We got an invitation to attend a ‘Housing for All’ mixed-income housing policy workshop,” Cross said, “and we gave them an overview of what we do.”

Reed Flory, Rancho Cordova’s housing services administrator, showed interest in Sacramento Habitat for Humanity after their initial meeting by touring their facilities and visiting their work sites. “I was truly impressed by the experience and quality of work that I saw and heard about,” Flory said during the city’s Feb. 17 council meeting. Afterwards, the city went to work finding a location for the group to consider.

“We scoured the Folsom Corridor and we looked at about 25 sites,” Flory said. Even though the site has been selected, there is still much to do: Cross said that the group still needs to purchase the lot, split it into parcels and then begin the building process.”We’d like to do something by the end of the year, the beginning of next year,” Cross said regarding when they’d like the project to be completed.

According to Flory, the city is also eager to get the process moving, but with one condition. “The city staff suggested that it is our intention to see fully solar-assisted units,” he said to the City Council. “This is one of our first stand-alone city efforts and it had to, simply, be that way.”

The project will help Rancho Cordova further its citywide affordable-housing goal by providing residents the opportunity to own a brand-new house for only the cost to build it.

Contrary to popular belief, Habitat for Humanity does not give away houses for free. The Sacramento Habitat for Humanity requires 500 hours of “sweat equity” from those who are selected to receive a house, and those hours are considered a down payment. Once construction is completed, the owners are required to pay the group a small mortgage payment, eventually paying off only the cost of building the house.

“We are not only the builder,” Cross explained to the City Council, “we are also the lender.”

Sacramento Habitat for Humanity will only search in Rancho Cordova for candidates to occupy the houses, and they must meet the group’s three criteria. First, applicants’ housing must be unsafe, overcrowded or overpriced; second, they must meet HUD low income guidelines; and third, they must be residents of the area for at least one year. Those interested in applying should either go to Sacramento Habitat for Humanity’s website or call (916) 440-1215 ext. 1109 for more information.

“What we want to do is keep families in Rancho Cordova, not move them from somewhere else,” Cross said. “We would direct our efforts to find somebody here in the community.”

The community seems to welcome Sacramento Habitat for Humanity as well. Stephanie Sharp, a homeowner near the proposed building site, thinks the program fosters pride in those who qualify for their houses.”If you’re willing to put in the 500 hours required to get that house then you’re going to value it,” Sharp said. “A drug dealer or somebody who’s just out to cause trouble isn’t going to waste their time putting in hours for something like that.”

Stephanie’s husband, Gordon, agreed. “It’s a worthy cause and I don’t see how it could make things worse for us in Rancho Cordova,” he said, “so why not?”