"We don't promise anyone a home," says David Arizmendi, executive director of Proyecto Azteca (the Aztec Project), a South Texas organization that helps families in colonias build their own homes. "We give them an opportunity to build a home. We tell them, 'Success depends on you.'"

Located in unincorporated areas along the U.S.-Mexican border, colonias are unincorporated residential areas that often lack adequate infrastructure, including paved streets, sidewalks, storm drainage, sewers, electricity, potable water, or telephone lines. The mostly low-income residents generally start with makeshift structures—often made of cardboard, crates, and tar paper—and add to their homes over time as finances allow. In addition to the unsafe and unsanitary conditions in many of the homes, colonia families are often victims of unscrupulous real estate practices. Developers sell the property under a contract for deed arrangement, meaning that, instead of earning equity as the mortgage is paid down, the resident will not own the property until it is paid in full. Mortgages are often set up with a difficult-to-meet balloon payment at the end of the term, so that, in practice, many homes eventually revert to the developer. Approximately three-fourths of colonia residents are U.S. citizens, according to a recent study by the Texas Department of Human Services.

Nearly one-half of the approximately 1,500 colonias in Texas are in Hidalgo County, where the average cost of a home, $60,000, is out of reach for many poor families. Most of the more than 3,000 families on Proyecto Azteca's waiting lists earn between $5,000 and $15,000 per year, which is 15 to 20 percent of the area median income. These families are too poor to qualify for typical affordable housing programs.

In 1995 the Texas legislature passed a bill that made it illegal to sell colonia lots that lacked basic infrastructure, which left only the more expensive developed lots for sale. A coalition of colonia residents said the bill did not address the causes of the problem: poverty and a lack of affordable housing. Although housing conditions were poor, the colonias nonetheless represented an opportunity to have a home. With input from colonia residents, the legislature passed additional legislation. One bill created five housing Self-Help Centers that would work with the nonprofit Border Low-Income Housing Coalition, functioning as one-stop shops for financial aid and technical assistance to build a home. Proyecto Azteca was designated as one of the self-help centers.

The Proyecto Azteca self-help program. Founded in 1991 by members of the United Farm Workers of America, Proyecto Azteca is a housing and community movement that helps low-income American farmworkers and their families build high-quality, affordable homes. The union connection is important, according to Arizmendi. "In order for this type of program to work, you must have the trust of the people." The organization's construction program began by building two homes funded by private donors. As of March 2001, approximately 250 families have built their homes through the Proyecto Azteca program.

Using a self-help approach, Proyecto Azteca's program provides mortgages, lends construction tools, sets up accounts so families can purchase building materials, and supervises groups of qualifying families; each builds six homes. Proyecto Azteca currently helps about 50 families build their homes each year. The 900-square-foot homes have 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a utility room, kitchen, and dining room. Each home also includes a range, central air conditioning and heating, and connections for a refrigerator and washer/dryer.

Participants pay $25,000 for their homes, a price that includes closing costs; insurance; taxes; and utility setup, including septic tanks, water, and electricity. They receive a 20-year, no-interest loan on the house through Proyecto Azteca. To qualify, a family must be able to pay $100 per month for the mortgage, which means it must have an annual income of at least $5,000 and little debt. Proyecto Azteca's no-interest loan program helps families qualify for housing they would normally not be able to purchase. The organization ensures that families do not pay more than 20 percent of their income for housing. By working closely with the families and ensuring that they are prepared to take on a mortgage, Proyecto Azteca's lenders have a delinquency rate of less than 10 percent. Staff work to establish reasonable payment schedules for people, such as farmworkers, who have seasonal cash flow. This arrangement enables families, even those without bank accounts or established credit, to become homeowners in houses that are decent, safe, and sanitary.

In most cases, participants must also purchase the property on which to place their new house. For families who are in contract-for-deed situations, Proyecto Azteca purchases the property for up to $6,000 and incorporates that cost into the monthly payment.

Homeowners are subject to some restrictions, including living in the house for a minimum of 5 years before selling. If they sell the house sooner, homeowners must sell, at the original purchase price, to a family that qualifies under Proyecto Azteca's self-help program.

How families participate. Families in the program "are not clients, they are participants," says Arizmendi. When selecting participants for the self-help program, Proyecto Azteca evaluates a family's need based on criteria different from those used by a mortgage bank. The selection committee, made up of colonia residents who have successfully completed the program, awards more points for lower income, the presence of family members with special needs, and time spent on the waiting list. Proyecto Azteca then determines whether those families would also qualify for a program-related loan.

Selected families attend a preconstruction meeting and are placed into a group with five other families. The group then works together at a centralized construction site on Proyecto Azteca property to build six homes (one designated for each family) over a 6- to 8-week period. Proyecto Azteca currently has the capacity for two groups to work on their homes at the same time. Participants work under the guidance of construction trainers who help them with the technical aspects of building a house. Homes are assembled and then moved to the sites. The houses are set on block foundations on caliche, a rock-cement type of dirt that hardens with time.

Family members who are not employed or in school are expected to participate in constructing the houses. Participants work Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. "The area has a 23-percent unemployment rate, so, unfortunately, it is fairly easy to find family members who are not working who can help with the house," Arizmendi says. Many participant families include migrant farmworkers or construction and other manual laborers. Proyecto Azteca does not want these members to physically overextend themselves by trying to build project houses while working full time. Some program participants, half of whom are women, have used the skills they learned in this program to get jobs in construction or as construction trainers in the program.

Participants sign an agreement to exchange labor with the group, which can dismiss any family they feel is not pulling its own weight in building the homes. Under the program's family support system, Proyecto Azteca staff call participants who do not show up to work on the houses to see if their absence is for a legitimate reason, such as illness or a family emergency. If a family has missed 60 hours of work on the house, the group holds a hearing on the problem. If a family misses more than 100 hours, the group makes a final decision on whether the family may continue in the program.

After all homes within a group are complete, they are moved to each owner's property, where the old structure is torn down. Then, the new house is put in place, utilities are connected, and the closing is held.

Future of the project. Proyecto Azteca is seeking additional ways to help more colonia families and reduce its long waiting list. The organization hopes to increase the number of homes built next year to at least 100 by establishing partnerships with foundations and private industry to capitalize a community loan fund. The fund will provide loans to build house kits, which will allow 50 to 100 families to work on houses at the same time, a method developed in South America. Using a house kit, Proyecto Azteca would help families build the basic structure of the house, the foundation, and the exterior. The cost of the kit is $10,500, and includes interior and exterior frame, roof, doors and windows, electrical wiring, and plumbing. Once the basic structure of the house is completed, it is moved to the owner's property to be completed as finances allow. Proyecto Azteca then provides the homeowner with training on how to complete the home, including hanging sheetrock, painting, flooring, and installing fixtures.

For more information, contact: David Arizmendi, Executive Director, Proyecto Azteca, P.O. Box 27, San Juan, TX, 78589, (956) 702-3307, darizmendi@aol.com.

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