2010s

Unfortunately, nearly 3 million of our nation’s veterans live in inadequate housing. According to HUD’s 2020 National Point in Time Homeless Count, over 37,000 veterans are homeless, 17% of them in rural areas. With critical backing from The Home Depot Foundation, HAC’s Affordable Housing for Rural Veterans initiative supports nonprofit housing organizations that provide or maintain affordable homes for veterans in rural places. Since 2013, the initiative has invested approximately $3 million in grant funding to 61 nonprofits to support the rehab, modification, and development of 615 homes for veterans.

2010s

Access to credit is a growing challenge across rural America, particularly in Native American lands. In 2018 HAC issued Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities for Mortgage Finance in Indian Country, which examined mortgage lending to American Indian and Alaska Natives, particularly activity on federally recognized reservation lands. The analysis touched on the historic and social factors that have helped create the constrained mortgage lending environment on reservation lands. In addition to barriers like geographic isolation, economic distress, and mistrust, which are often found in rural areas, these lands have a nonstandard land ownership situation and an extra layer of federal oversight, as well.

2010s

In 2018, HAC conducted a comprehensive assessment of USDA’s multifamily housing investments. This multifaceted review investigated not only the property characteristics, but also the tenant and market dynamics in which these properties exist. The ultimate goal of the project was to inform strategies that help preserve this integral housing resource for rural communities and residents.

2010s

In 2019, HAC was selected to serve as co-operator of the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design by the National Endowment for the Arts. Under HAC’s leadership, a peer learning cohort was added to the program to expand its reach among rural communities. The program launched with a Rural Design Summit in Thomas and Elkins, West Virginia in October 2019. Hosted virtually today, the cohort program includes a series of online peer engagement activities and interactive learning sessions that address a cohort community’s specific design challenge.

2010s

For 50 years, the Housing Assistance Council has helped build homes and communities across rural America. Now, we’re expanding our footprint by working with more communities to develop and rehabilitate community facilities. Community facilities—such as parks, libraries, hospitals, and childcare centers—provide public services for everyone, making neighborhoods a better place to call home. They not only cultivate a feeling of belonging; they also provide tangible benefits for residents.

2000s

To highlight the need for affordable housing development in rural areas, HAC, Proyecto Azteca, and a small army of volunteers teamed up to build a self-help home on the National Mall in 2000 as part of the Smithsonian Institution’s annual Folklife Festival. The house was later donated to a single mother in Maryland through the Southern Maryland Tri-County Community Action Committee.

2000s

In 2003, HAC created a pilot program of Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) to help serve the needs of people living in colonia communities in the U.S./Mexico border region. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development made a $250,000 grant to HAC to launch this program. The program sought to help low-income colonias families create IDA savings accounts for home purchase or improvement of existing homes. HAC’s colonias IDA pilot program addressed some of these needs, helping families accumulate savings and assets and generating long-term benefits including gains in income, self-esteem, family stability, financial literacy, and participation in the larger economy.

2000s

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated much of the Gulf Coast in 2005, particularly its rural communities. In response, HAC re-released disaster guides and issued supplemental guides specifically targeting these communities. Following the storms, HAC renewed its focus on resiliency.

2000s

After the 2008 financial crisis, it became difficult for many local organizations to fund day-to-day operations, much less invest in organizational development. HAC created the THRIVE FUND to provide capacity building resources to rural housing organizations. Through this program, HAC awarded capacity building grants to 22 local nonprofits. They used the funding to conduct needs assessments for their communities, to support and maintain existing staff, and to engage in program and staff development.

1990s

The first issue of Rural Voices focused on housing for migrant workers

HAC launched Rural Voices magazine in 1995. Each issue focuses on a single topic important to rural communities, with subjects ranging from housing for older rural residents to the future of housing finance to citizen-led design. Local rural housing professionals from around the country write most of the articles, sharing their expertise, best practices, and even the mistakes they’ve learned from.

1990s

In 1996, Congress approved legislation to create the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP) providing critical funding to the development of self-help housing in rural America. On March 14, 1997, HAC approved its first SHOP loans. HAC’s SHOP program has been used nationwide and has been particularly impactful in Appalachia. To date, organizations serving rural Appalachia have borrowed more than $18,000,000 in SHOP funding, helping more than 1,400 families achieve their goal of homeownership.

1990s

In the 1990s, HAC’s Research and Information Division continued to be on the forefront of rural research. In 1997, HAC released Rural Housing and Welfare Reform: HAC’s 1997 Report on the State of the Nation’s Rural Housing. This report examined the potential impact of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act on rural welfare recipients and their housing conditions. Across rural America, housing cost burdens have increased steadily over the years.

1990s

HAC has long been committed to serving migrant farmworkers, who are among the poorest of the poor in rural areas. In 1995, HAC began a joint venture with the National Center for Farmworker Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help member health clinics develop affordable housing. Through the effort, HAC helped five farmworker health clinics in Texas, Florida, Washington, and Puerto Rico develop capacity to build decent, affordable housing.

1980s

In 1980, HAC moved its headquarters to its current office at 1025 Vermont Avenue NW. While focused on serving rural America, HAC’s DC headquarters is critical to advancing policies at the national level that improve access to safe and affordable housing opportunities across rural America.

1980s

The first issue of Taking Stock, an assessment of rural poverty & housing

On October 11, 1984, HAC published the first Taking Stock, a comprehensive assessment of rural poverty and housing conditions in the US. Since then, HAC has released a new Taking Stock following the each Census (2000, 2010). Each issue of Taking Stock includes a deep dive into counties in each of HAC’s priority High Needs Regions: Zavala County, TX (border colonias); Hancock County, TN (Appalachia); Kern County, CA (farmworker communities); West Feliciana Parish, LA (Lower Mississippi Delta); and Oglala Lakota County, SD (Native American lands).

1980s

On December 9, 1986 HAC’s then Executive Director Hal Wilson delivered the speech “Is There a Rural Housing Movement” before the annual meeting of the National Rural Housing Coalition, reaffirming HAC’s commitment to serving the housing needs of rural America:

“The spirit and the commitment of the original [rural housing] movement have never died and the understanding that our housing efforts are really a struggle for justice and human dignity still motivates us.”

1980s

In the 1980s HAC launched the Small Town Housing Assistance Project to provide technical assistance in very poor places in the Mississippi Delta and southern Black Belt. Throughout its 50-year history, HAC has provided direct technical assistance to thousands of small and emerging rural housing organizations across America.

1980s

In 1987, HAC took over leadership of the National Rural Housing Conference. First held in 1969, the conference had been hosted by the Rural Housing Alliance (later Rural America) and by the National Rural Housing Coalition. HAC has hosted the conference bi-annually since 1994. Delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Rural Housing Conference will take place virtually November 30-December 3, 2021.

1970s

In May 1971 HAC was founded with a $2 million War on Poverty grant from the federal Office of Economic Opportunity. Later that year, Gordon Cavanaugh was named HAC’s first Executive Director.

1970s

HAC approved its first loans on February 24, 1972. A former HAC staffer recalled, “We would talk to almost anybody who said they needed money. It felt like we were on the road constantly. We were trying to look at where HAC should put its resources, both financial and otherwise, to get the organization going.”

1970s

On April 10, 1972 the first HAC News was published. HAC has produced the HAC News bi-weekly ever since. Initially intended to look like an imitation telegram, the newsletter has lengthened slightly in its current electronic form but continues to provide concise summaries of key news.

1970s

From the outset, building the capacity of rural housing organizations has been a key element of HAC’s work. In May 1972 HAC held its first training workshop in Port Townsend, Washington. HAC continues to adapt its training, adding new topics and courses to address the changing needs of rural America’s housing development organizations.

1970s

In 1973 HAC opened its first regional office in Albuquerque. After realizing it was critical to have a presence in the field, over the next few decades, HAC opened three additional regional offices in Atlanta, California, and Kansas City. As of 2021, HAC has staff stationed in nine (Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Washington) states and the District of Columbia.