The Rural Housing and Planning Division provides a full-range of construction, rehabilitation and planning services.  Funds in 2010 will be used to expand the range of technical assistance and direct services provided to rural housing entities to increase their capacity to conduct local needs assessment, planning, rehabilitation and new construction for their own low-income housing customers.  The division also maintains oversight of RurAL CAP’s Weatherization and Rehabilitation, Self-Help Housing, and Community Planning programs. It is able to do this by brokering partnerships among various agencies and villages to maximize leveraging of funding and through these collaborations, maintains an ongoing collection of needs assessment information to improve its quality and accuracy. 

In 2008, Alaska received a $200 million increase in Weatherization funds from the legislature. RurAL CAP is one of the organizations responsible for this program’s on the ground results in parts of rural Alaska and Juneau. Weatherization makes homes more energy efficient by lowering the costs of electricity and home heating and thus making more household income available for other basic necessities that keep local
economies alive.

Charlie Lee built his two-story home in Kwethluk in 1998. There are 7 people living in his home, including Charlie, his wife, and their five children. Between November 2007 and February 2008, Lee paid $3,500 to heat his home. The Lee home was wrapped in October of this year, a process to insulate roof, walls and floors.

“Putting insulation on the floor and ceiling makes a big difference.” 
       - Charlie Lee, Kwethluk

For more information contact:
Mitzi Barker, Rural Housing and Planning Director
Phone:  (907) 865-7370

Attachments:

File
2010 Rural Housing & Planning Division Fact Sheet