Homeownership Production

- New Homes

- Self-Help

- SystemVision

- IDA Loan Pool

- Mortgages for First-Time Home Buyers

Home Repair and Rehabilitation

Home Protection Program

Supportive Housing Development

Rental Housing Production Program

Homelessness Prevention

Becoming a CHDO

Housing-Related Counseling

Resources and Recognition

Self-Help Loan Pool

The Self-Help Loan Pool (SHLP) assists self-help housing organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity, to build homes for their clients.

The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency provides a mortgage which is combined with the nonprofit’s funding the borrower with one affordable, interest-free first mortgage. Home buyers use the financing to purchase homes developed by Loan Pool members. This assistance is targeted to home buyers with incomes below 80% of the area median income.

Homes funded by the Self-Help Loan Pool must be located in:

• new subdivisions,
• comprehensive neighborhood revitalization areas, or
• strategic in-fill developments.

For each home developed under the program, we will provide up to $25,000 to the home buyer  (or $30,000 for certain foreclosed properties*). For services rendered in preparing buyers and closing the Self-Help loan, the Member is paid $1,000 (or $1,500 if the home being purchased was foreclosed*). They are also eligible to apply for a construction subsidy of $4,000 for each home built under the SystemVision Energy Guarantee Program. A incentive grant will be available for units meeting both SystemVision™ and one of the four established green building standards.

To become a Loan Pool member and obtain project approval, organizations complete the Application for Loan Pool Membership/Project approval. For more information, see the Guidelines for Loan Pool Membership.

Once approved, the Loan Pool member serves as the liaison between the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency and the home buyer, submitting the buyer’s loan application and making the loan reservation on a case-by-case basis. The borrower pays back the first mortgage “combo loan” – which is a combination of the Agency’s financing and the Loan Pool member’s funding – to the Loan Pool member. The member in turn makes monthly payments to the Agency for its share of the combo loan.

Home buyers who borrow through the Self-Help Loan Pool must complete housing counseling. Loan Pool members can either offer the counseling themselves or partner with a counseling organization in the community. For information on training for counselors, go to Workshops and Technical Assistance.

*SHLP Members may now receive special funding for properties qualifying as foreclosed under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.  Members may reserve NSP funds, in these higher amounts, simply by checking a box on their SHLP reservation forms.  NSP funds may be used to assist households with incomes up to 120% of the area median, and NSP funds do not count against Member’s annual caps. 

Members of the Self-Help Loan Pool