More self-help homes in Dayton will be built with $1.3 million loan

Homes for 25 area families are closer to getting built thanks to a $1.3 million loan from a federal nonprofit housing assistance program.

Citizens for Affordable Homes Inc., which is Nevada's leading builder of self-help homes, received the loan from the Housing Assistance Council. The funding will build the infrastructure for 25 homes in Dayton, 38 homes in Pahrump and nine homes for American Indians in Yerington.

Ron Trunk, CAHI chief executive officer, said Wednesday that the Housing Assistance Council will forgive 80 percent of the loan if the homes are all completed in the next two years. That means CAHI would only owe the program about $200,000.

"We will have the 25 homes in Dayton completed by December 2006 and most of the ones in Pahrump done by 2006 and the ones in Yerington done by 2006," he said. "The other 30 homes in Pahrump will be done by the end of 2007. We will complete them not only on time, but ahead of time."

The new homes in Dayton will be constructed behind Smith's, adjacent to CAHI's Gold Country Estates project. They will break ground in early June on the project's second phase. CAHI will develop another 36 lots there this year.

The Housing Assistance Council has provided more than $2.3 million in funding to CAHI in the last two years.

n Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.