Minimum Eligibility Requirements

Households must meet the following minimum requirements to be eligible to participate in Northwest Housing Development's mutual self-help housing programs.

Complete, accurate and timely information

Every household must at all times provide accurate and timely information on required applications and forms, and respond in a timely manner to every request for additional information mad by Northwest Housing Development and the lender(s) providing their construction loan and mortgage. Failure to provide complete, accurate and timely information may delay or disqualify a household at any time before or during construction of their home.

Good credit requirement

All applicants are expected to have good credit typically measured as a credit score of 640+ points reported by all three major credit reporting agencies. Exceptions for scores less than 640 are limited to special circumstances and should be discussed with your group coordinator when you submit your application.

The following credit issues typically disqualify an applicant:

• Bankruptcy within the past three years
• Accounts in collections
• Late on more than one account during the past 12 months
• Collections within the last six months
• A total debt-to-income ratio greater than 41 percent

Household income requirements

Participating households must have dependable income sufficient to pay a modest monthly mortgage (typically $29,000 annually depending on area of residence). Adjusted household incomes must also fall within the low income category currently defined by federal regulation as less than 80 percent of the median income for your county (households with incomes less than 50 percent of the median for its size may be eligible for priority processing). Adjusted incomes are determined by the number of household members and any special circumstances identified during your initial application review.

King County

Pierce County

Thurston County

Households with more than eight members add an additional eight percent of the four-member household limit.

Work requirement

Mutual self-help housing is not for everyone. Participating households must commit to and be physically able to perform 35 hours of work each week regardless of illness, injury, transportation, daycare, employment or other issues. Disabled individuals may qualify for with the help of an approved surrogate who commits to fulfill the 35 hour per week work requirement on behalf of the applicant.

Households may earn one hour of credit towards their weekly minimum commitment for each hour of work completed on homes within their construction group by an approved volunteer up to a specified program limit. Volunteers may include other adult family members or friends age 16 or older volunteering on behalf of the household.

Program participants remain ultimately responsible for meeting their minimum work requirement.

Northwest Housing Development is not responsible for providing volunteers or surrogates.