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Housing Assistance Council

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Housing Assistance Council

Proyecto Azteca, San Juan, TX

[Pullout: Yolanda Gurrola, Texas-Mexico border ]
Yolanda Gurrola, Texas-Mexico border

Hector Armando Gurrola and his wife, Yolanda, lived in the colonias along the Texas-Mexico border in a dilapidated mobile home with no air conditioning or heating. But in 2005, their lives were transformed when they moved into a new home, thanks to Proyecto Azteca.

Proyecto Azteca is a small, rural nonprofit housing development organization located in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Created in 1991 by the United Farm Workers and Texas Rural Legal Aid, Proyecto Azteca is dedicated to building decent, affordable housing for low-income colonia residents, especially farm workers.
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Proyecto Azteca’s housing program is designed to empower the low-income families it serves. The families receive materials, tools, and training and do almost all the construction work on their homes themselves (called sweat equity), which enables them to develop new job skills. Moreover, their mortgages are tailored to their circumstances. Typically, Proyecto Azteca’s loans cover the lots and homes, with zero interest and monthly payments of about $100.

Since 1996, Proyecto Azteca has received more than $1.196 million in predevelopment loans from the Housing Assistance Council (HAC), Washington, D.C. Founded in 1971, HAC is the only national intermediary focusing on the development of affordable housing in rural communities. It emphasizes local solutions, providing loans and technical assistance to enable local public, nonprofit, and private organizations to improve housing conditions in their own communities.

HAC’s financing has allowed Proyecto Azteca to build 127 homes. For people like Hector and Yolanda, it means being able to live in a safe, decent home—and so much more. “Those families now have better physical and emotional health, their children are doing better in school, and they are accruing wealth in the land and house that they were able to purchase with HAC’s assistance,” says Ann Cass, Executive Director of Proyecto Azteca. “How can all of that be measured? It is priceless.”