Benefits

At Self-Help CDC, these are a few of our favorite things.

• Green Commutes and Green Housing
• Benefits of Affordable Housing
• Quality Homeownership Opportunities
• Building Wealth
• Healthy Homes
• Partnerships
• Land Banks

Green Commutes and Green Housing

We don't just feel closer, we are closer. 

Everyone wants a shorter commute. At Self-Help CDC, the homes we build in Durham have shortened commutes up to EIGHTEEN fold!

The average commute for Durham employees is almost eighteen miles each way. Our homes in Southwest Central Durham, Southside, and Walltown are one to three miles away from major employers including Duke Hospital, Duke University, downtown businesses, NC Central University, and Durham Regional Hospital as well as state and local government agencies.

This proximity makes commuting less of a headache for everyone involved because: employees can bike or take public transit; employers benefit from having a more reliable workforce; and the community benefits from cleaner air due to the decrease in emissions.

Benefits of Affordable Housing

Stable, affordable housing benefits employers, employees and children.

A recent article in Businessweek shed some light on new programs that employers are using to boost productivity, retention, and loyalty, which in turn reduces training and hiring costs. No, it’s not more vacation days or stock options, it’s helping employees to purchase a home.

Homeownership benefits employees in many ways:

• It helps to create stable neighborhoods and stronger community ties.
• It creates a sense of safety and stability which leads to improved health for the whole family.
• Ownership of an energy-efficient home results in lower utility costs and more disposable income.
• Home equity built over time can be a “savings account” andwealth that can be passed on to the next generation.
• The children of homeowners benefit from having a stable living environment. Children change schools less often and can have better academic success.

Quality Homeownership Opportunities

It’s not about buying a home, it’s about keeping that home.

At Self-Help CDC, part of our mission is to create ownership and economic opportunity for those often left out of the economic mainstream.  For example, the homeownership rate among African-Americans is just 47% compared to 68% overall nationwide.  We are proud that more than half of the first-time homebuyers to whom we sell homes are African-Americans. 

During this time of economic crisis, we are also proud to ensure that our homeowners receive fair, responsible mortgages. We verify that Self-Help CDC homebuyers receive fixed interest rates and truly affordable monthly payments. Many buyers purchase our homes using a Self-Help Credit Union loan.  These buyers can be assured that the Self-Help Credit Union will work with them through any financial challenges they face giving them the best opportunity to stay in their home and avoid foreclosure.

CRL Cost of Bad Lending NC Fact Sheet: Why responsible lending is important

Federal Reserve: 5 Tips for Shopping for a Mortgage

Prince George’s Community Foundation Foreclosure Prevention Guide

Build Wealth

What home equity really means.

For families, the equity in their home can provide:

• Money to start a new business
• Ability to pay for higher education
• Security in retirement
• A way to transfer wealth to the next generation

For communities, homeowners provide:

• Tax revenue to support services and build schools
• More eyes on the street to protect against crime
• Engaged residents who participate in civic groups
• Fewer abandoned properties and more attractive, better maintained yards, homes and neighborhoods

Self-Help CDC works to build wealth and equity in Durham neighborhoods. We replace vacant lots and dilapidated structures with new homes, attracting residents and vitality to the community, increasing property values, and generating tax revenue. Our homeowners receive budget counseling and are encouraged to spend no more than one third of their income on their mortgage, property taxes, and home insurance, meaning they have more money to invest in their future, support their families, and contribute to their community.

The Subprime Swindle: Economic War on Black America

Nation magazine contributing writer Kai Wright, discusses his July 14 article about the mortgage crisis and its affect on the Black middle class.

Article : Mortgage Industry Bankrupts Black America

Our counseling partner DAHC:

DAHC offers free home buyer workshops and one on one counseling.

Healthy Homes

Home is where the health is.

Self-Help CDC partners with the HealthyBuilt Homes program and SystemVision, to provide not only energy efficient, but also healthy homes. Some benefits include:

• Consistent temperatures and humidity throughout the home creating greater comfort and preventing mildew and mold.
• Cleaner air within the home and less creation of greenhouse gases outside of the home.
• Independent inspections ensure that the homes are built right.
• Reduction of health problems such as asthma due to lessening or eliminating exposure to asbestos, allergens, and lead paint.

Owning a home can also provide a financial buffer in the case of a health crisis. Home equity can be an excellent source of emergency funding that would normally devastate a family’s financial health.

Read about first-time homebuyers and their sustainable home.

Partnerships

Together, we are stronger.

Sometimes the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts. That was the case when Self-Help CDC joined forces with Duke University, the City of Durham, the Southwest Central Durham Quality of Life Project, DHIC, Durham Community Land Trustees, and countless others tobuild Maplewood Square and Maplewood Park.

The $4.5 million Maplewood development includes affordable housing for those over 55 and a playground for children of all ages. The development began as part of the Quality of Life Project. Community members wanted to create more residences for seniors and to rebuild a neighborhood park and they approached Duke University to help.

Soon, Duke recruited Self-Help CDC, DHIC and DCLT to help with the development. Thesethree partners  brought development experience and financial resources to the table. The City of Durham offered the unoccupied City-owned parcel next to a City park, then approved federal funds to purchase and remove blighted structures on six surrounding lots.

It’s amazing how much more can be done when strong partnerships arise.

Land Banks

Putting together the pieces of the puzzle 

Revitalizing neighborhoods is like putting together a puzzle; you need to find the right pieces at the right time to be successful. Self-Help CDC has been building houses in Durham since 1994. Ten years later, Self-Help CDC started helping to put the pieces of Durham’s development puzzle together by purchasing properties and holding them in a land bank.

Land banking a simple idea – buy properties as they become available, and hold them until the timing is right for development. Then sell the properties to local community developers when they are ready to build new homes.

It’s an idea that works, and a win for everyone:

• Self-Help CDC has acquired 135 properties in Southwest Central Durham-a total investment of almost $3.5M. We’ve built 20 houses in SWCD and 77 in Walltown.
• Duke University, the City of Durham, and state and federal government provide innovative financing to help buy and redevelop properties.
• Local community developers have time to line up resources to use for redevelopment.
• Durham residents have better options for living near the city center and more homeownership opportunities.