Date of Award:

5-2012

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Human Development and Family Studies

Department name when degree awarded

Family, Consumer, and Human Development

Committee Chair(s)

Lucy M. Delgadillo

Committee

Lucy M. Delgadillo

Committee

Jean M. Lown

Committee

John C. Allen III

Abstract

Many low-income households have difficulty finding affordable housing. Some may turn to government housing programs for assistance. This study looks at the Mutual Self-Help Housing Program, an affordable homeownership program offered by the USDA Rural Development and run by local nonprofit organizations. The program organizes groups of low-income families who help one another build their own homes. The loan payments are determined by the households’ income and the cost to build the home is usually less than if the family were to buy a comparable home new, helping them have some equity in the home. A survey was sent to households who built a home in this program from 2002 to 2009 with two nonprofit organizations in Utah. In total 114 surveys were returned.

There were four questions that were explored by this study. The first was to create a profile of who uses the program and identify characteristics of their finances and housing. The second question was how satisfied the program participants were with their home, their neighborhood, and the program. The third question was to see if there were any differences between the satisfaction of households that had additional challenges, such as a disability, less education, or single parents, and other households in the study. The final question was what factors had the greatest influence on a family’s willingness to recommend the program to someone else.

We found that the participants were usually White, had 2.4 dependents, and had at least some college or vocational education. Most were first-time homeowners, were estimating more than $20,000 in equity, and had never missed a house payment. Most of them reported high levels of satisfaction with the program, their home, and the neighborhood. We found that the satisfactions scores of those with more needs were not significantly different from the scores of those with less needs. The greatest influence in predicting if a family would recommend the program to someone else was their satisfaction with their home.

The findings indicate that program participants are satisfied with the program. They had high levels of satisfaction, were likely to refer the program to others, and derived significant benefits from the program in terms of equity and affordability. This information can be used by nonprofits who administer the program, the USDA Rural Development who funds the program, and legislators who determine funding levels to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the program and better serve their clients.

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This work made publicly available electronically on June 4, 2012.

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