Rural Development Loan Specialist in South Dakota Helps Aspiring Homeowners Achieve Their Dream

Submitted by Sarah Sol, USDA Rural Development, Office of External Affairs

June marks National Homeownership Month, an opportunity to reflect on the meaning and value of homeownership.

For decades, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has helped millions of people buy, repair and build affordable homes in rural and Tribal communities. USDA Rural Development (RD) programs provide loan and grant funding for homeowners and potential homeowners across rural America that enable them to build wealth and equity and maintain a safe home that can last for generations.

RD Loan Specialist Roxanne Woodring helps meet the housing needs of rural Americans in South Dakota. She joined RD more than 21 years ago and has spent more than 20 of those years working in the agency’s single-family housing programs. Her area of expertise is RD’s Single-Family Housing Direct Home Loans, also known as the Section 502 Direct Loan Program, and she also works with RD’s Single-Family Housing Repair Loan and Grant Program. In the past, she also supported the Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program.

Woodring doesn’t know how many individuals or families she has helped reach their housing goals in the past two decades — “I’ve never really kept track, because to me it's the overall picture,” she said — but she does know how to exhaust every possible avenue to help RD program applicants succeed. She takes a creative and innovative approach and has identified a wide variety of resources and partner organizations throughout South Dakota that, together, can help people achieve their dream of homeownership.

“If someone comes to us, and we can't help them — they're over income or limited in their ability to repay the loan or whatever — I always try to give them another option,” she said.

If there’s something an aspiring homeowner needs to fix in order for their application to succeed, she’ll help them understand what to do and then revisit the possibilities with them in the future. But some applicants will need support from multiple programs, she said. For example, Woodring has been able to get U.S. Housing and Urban Development Section 8 vouchers through individual housing authorities in South Dakota, such as the housing authorities in Mobridge and Aberdeen, for applicants to use toward their home purchases. She also has worked with an organization called HAPI, or Homes Are Possible in Aberdeen, which offers downpayment assistance and home repair funding.

“I've even called them where we’ve run into a shortage of construction funds, and they were able to find some funding to help us,” she said. “They are wonderful.”

Another organization she mentioned is a nonprofit called GROW South Dakota, which offers programs and products for homeowners, including downpayment assistance.

“I have downpayment assistance probably on 99% of my loans,” Woodring said.

She looks to see if she can get a borrower 0% downpayment assistance even if they qualify for 100% financing on a loan and aren’t required to come up with a downpayment, because that can help reduce their loan amount and make their monthly payment more affordable.

Another option in South Dakota that Woodring shares with potential homeowners is the Governor’s House Project, operated by South Dakota Housing in partnership with the Governor’s Inmate Training Program. Prison inmates participating in this program build homes with the oversight of general contractors.

“These homes are priced less than market value, and the houses are just wonderful,” she said, “so we use a lot of those for new constructions, especially in areas where it's very hard to build a new home or get an existing home.”

Tribal governments are frequent partners, too, she said, because they can offer their members Housing Improvement Program funds available through the Bureau of Indian Affairs to help with home repairs and downpayment assistance.

“My partners are so important to me,” she said. “They've so helped out our programs and our borrowers.”

For the rural South Dakotans she assists, homeownership can be an anchor, she said.

“It makes them part of the community, and it gives them pride. It's just amazing what homeownership can do for individuals once they get into a home,” she said. “It gives them security, confidence, independence and freedom. It is such an accomplishment.”

Woodring herself is anchored to her community. She has lived all her life in rural South Dakota. She now lives near the village of Athol, about 25 miles east of where she grew up, and lives on a second-generation farm with her husband, Jared, and their children, Lincoln and Isabelle. The farm grows grain and raises beef cattle. Family members live nearby — her husband’s father and her own parents both live within 25 miles — and she’s grateful they can watch her children grow up. Her son, Lincoln, just graduated high school in May and will attend a college in Aberdeen this fall, where he’ll run track and field. And her daughter, Isabelle, who also loves sports, will be a high school freshman.

Woodring’s personal life and her daily work both center around the value of home.

Her career with RD is rewarding, she said, in part because she knows how complicated home purchases can be for some of the populations she serves. For example, building on tribal land can involve steps such as setting up a land lease. And, for many rural South Dakotans, the affordable loan options available are extremely limited. With interest rates so high, and home prices soaring all over South Dakota, she said, RD’s housing programs have become crucial for some aspiring homeowners.

One of the best parts of her job is the feeling that she is making people’s dreams come true by offering help that is affordable and obtainable, she said.

“It feels awesome to bring such an affordable product to these areas,” she said. “It keeps me motivated, because once you get people into the home, and you see them accomplish their dream and it makes them so happy, I just want to go get the next one in!”