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Success Stories

A mother and three daughters pose around a dining room table. There are lace curtains and blue wall in the background and some dishes on the table in the foreground.

“This is Home” – A Family Finds Their Forever Home in Calais, Maine

One of the first rooms Heather Gagne and her daughters began redecorating in their new home is the dining room, shown in the top photo. They have been busy repainting and making other updates. Raising a family in coastal Machias, Maine may sound lovely, but for Heather Gagne recent years proved stressful. There were few housing options in their Downeast community, and Heather was glad to find a rental home to…
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Use the filters below to find additional stories about how our programs have helped rural communities across the nation.

Search Results: 111 Stories

Petersburg's Newest Homeowners are all Smiles

The Carrillo family had outgrown their two-bedroom house and started to look for a home that was more accommodating to their needs.  Jesus and Jasmine had hopes to buy a house in Petersburg where they currently lived and had grown up.  The Carillo's had heard about the… [Read More]
Housing

Brownfield Native Continues Tradition

Megan Lopez was looking to purchase a home and raise her family in the town she grew up in. Megan had lived in a USDA Rural Development Multi-Family property in Brownfield for the last three years, but it was time to find a permanent single family home.  As Megan began her… [Read More]
Housing
USDA offers loans and grants to low and very low income individuals to make repairs to their homes.

First-Time Homebuyer’s Dream Comes True with USDA Loan

June Walker, a single parent, was living in unsafe rental housing with her two special needs children. She wanted to improve her family’s living conditions. She took the first step towards homeownership by contacting the Cross Lanes Field Office of USDA Rural Development to… [Read More]
Housing

A Life-Changing Connection

As a shy, single mother of one, with one on the way, Sydney Hysell described her situation as being “… in a bad relationship, and we were living in a shack that we could have been kicked out of at any time.” She wondered if she would ever be able to have a normal life with safe… [Read More]
HomeownershipHousing
Retirees Sandra and Daniel purchased their first home in Pahrump, Nev., with an affordable USDA mortgage loan.

Life-long Caregivers Achieve Homeownership in Retirement

Throughout their careers, Sandra and Daniel cared for others. They worked at the same long-term care facility in San Francisco, Sandra as a registered nurse and Daniel as a dietician. When they retired, they decided to move to Las Vegas. “We always wanted to have… [Read More]
Housing
Photo of Corina Ponce and her son

USDA Helps Renovate Homeowner’s Safe Haven

Nearly three years ago, Corina Ponce had purchased a bank-owned home in Redfield, SD. She acquired the property knowing it had been vacant for a few years and needed major repairs. The time had come when she was ready to move forward with repairs to the home. One evening, she… [Read More]
Home RepairHomeownershipHousing

Homeownership Gives Rural Family a Lifetime of Security, Safety Amid Pandemic

The Mitchell family was living on top of each other in their cramped apartment in the rural town of Tillamook on the northern Oregon coast. The exposed wiring in the second bedroom forced them to share the master with their two young children. They applied for a mortgage loan,… [Read More]
Housing
Ms. Hill in her new home.

RD Helps Mother Buy Her First Home

One of the most rewarding feelings for us at USDA Rural Development is making the call to an applicant once they're approved for a loan under the 502 Direct Home Program. You can hear the excitement in their voice and you can feel the gratitude through the phone lines.… [Read More]
HomeownershipHousing
The Smith Family showing off their new home.

A Place to Call Home

New Orleans natives, Kerry and Trellis Smith, had long dreamed of purchasing a home but because of limited resources, low inventory, and the rising costs of houses in North Texas, this dream seemed out of reach. After a very exhaustive search and applying for loans with other… [Read More]
Housing

New Beginnings

Preparing to search for and purchase your first home can be a confusing and exhausting time, but for the Erickstad's that process proved to be very rewarding for their young family of six. Mrs. Erickstad is someone who has always loved serving others and who is not afraid… [Read More]
Housing

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