Picking Up the Pieces - Housing Assistance Council

make a payment on behalf of a borrower who cannot quite afford the payment. For example, the
Kentucky Housing Corporation (the state housing finance agency) has a fund that agrees to pay
up to one-third of the monthly payment (e.g., $30) for up to five years for a borrower who is not
able to afford the required RHS payment. The payment encourages RHS to make the loan which it
would otherwise not make at a relatively small cost in subsidy (maximum of $360 a year or total
of $1,800 in the cited example).
Shared financial responsibility through individual cosigners may provide an incentive to a lender
to make a loan it would not otherwise make. RHS sometimes accepts adult children as cosigners
for their elderly parents for home repair loans. Perhaps the principle can be extended to new
housing. Churches, charitable groups, and businesses can become cosigners for individuals.
Other Techniques
Grants to helping organizations may provide resources for land development, construction
oversight or supervision, volunteer direction or management, loan packaging, and housing
counseling.
Assistance with living costs, including utility bill assistance, may provide the margin to allow
low-income people to maintain themselves in decent housing.
Site development, either for developments or for single sites, may allow an individual to bring the
other elements of his or her housing problems within reach.
The cited examples of ways to provide housing relief to the “hard-to-reach” are by no means an
exhaustive list. These suggestions are meant to be provocative samples that will stimulate the
development of suitable resources and the most effective solutions for areas, neighborhoods, and
individuals.
Housing Assistance Council 21