Frontier Housing

Connecting the Rural Poor of Appalachia with Affordable Homes

Location: United States

Frontier Housing:  Grantee in 2008

Frontier Housing provides affordable, quality housing and good, fair loans to the rural poor in Appalachia.  In an area with overall poverty rates that have been around 25%, and where more than half of the children live in poverty, the goal is to help the population find safe living conditions.

The genesis of Frontier Housing traces back to 1974 when a few volunteers got together to do home repair work for families living in unsafe, overcrowded, and unaffordable conditions.  Since then, the organization has grown to become the largest provider of affordable home ownership opportunities in Northeastern Kentucky, and one of the largest home builder in that area.  In addition to financing, designing, building and rehabilitating low-cost homes, Frontier Housing provides education and credit counseling to home buyers.

Frontier targets families with incomes below 50% of the area median, a population particularly vulnerable to predatory lending practices and poor quality products.  The home designs, both safe and affordable, are also more energy efficient.

For more information, see: http://www.nextstepus.org/

GRANT SUMMARY AND PURPOSE

2008:   $17,875 to contribute to the construction and installation of a prototype home called the Ridgeline.  The home is a modestly sized, low-cost, high-quality, energy-efficient manufactured home produced by Clayton Homes.

IMPACT

Validate concept so that others would extend the housing opportunities.  Gain support and commitment from non-profit housing providers for product distribution and affordable mortgage providers to make funds available to purchasers.