1970

SMHA began self-help, low-income housing efforts, including the first neighborhood association called “Rabbit Hill” in Abbeville, Louisiana. From SMHA’s successful renovation of 30 homes, Abbeville obtained the first Community Development Block Grant for rural communities, soon duplicated in dozens of other rural communities in Louisiana. SMHA’s Self Help Housing Program subsequently built 49 individually owned newhomes for sugar cane farm worker families.