Building a better world.
Our Mission
Proyecto Azteca's mission, rooted in the hope of creating a more equitable society, is to build stable and vibrant communities by providing quality affordable housing for low and very low-income families, traditionally denied housing opportunities, and empowering them to become responsible homeowners.
Our Story
Proyecto Azteca was created in 1991 in the spirit of Cesar Chavez as a means of addressing the housing crisis in the Rio Grande Valley colonias in Hidalgo County, Texas. Members of Proyecto Azteca's board of directors live in low-income areas or represent low-income areas. Residents developed a housing program based on the colonia tradition of owner-built houses.
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Developed with the community, Proyecto Azteca works with the people it serves today.
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Our Homes
We build our homes to be decent and affordable; we want to provide a way for rural residents to obtain the dream of home ownership.
We offer programs based on family size and income. While we do not require a traditional down payment, we do require that our families take first-time homebuyer classes and take part in the construction of their own or another family's home. Applicants who cannot physically complete the sweat equity component of our program are accommodated.
APPLICATION FOR ASSISTANCE
All of our programs available are based on family size and income. We only construct in rural Hidalgo County and are not allowed to construct in entitled cities which include: McAllen, Mission, Pharr and Edinburg.
At this time we can only assist individuals who own their own empty lot, it must be paid off and the taxes need to be current. There are several areas where our funds do not allow us to build so if you could please send me the address for the empty lot then I can verify if it is in an eligible area in Hidalgo County.
An empty lot for us means that it is completely empty, free of any structures or there is only a mobile home on the property (if anything is attached to the mobile home the property is not eligible).
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​If you do not own your own property then you can still apply and will be placed on a waiting list; it is very important that you update your application annually or if you happen to change your contact information such as a phone number.
Volunteer
***If you would like to volunteer contact our Executive Director, Ann W. Cass, at annwcass@aol.com or our Assistant Executive Director at, Amber Arriaga-Salinas at admin@proyectoazteca.org**
Proyecto Azteca facilitates construction for low income families that live in rural areas in Hidalgo County, TX.
We work with a self-help model that requires that families work on their own homes. Unfortunately, some of our families who are either disabled, elderly or both cannot fulfill the 550 "sweat equity" hour requirement that our programs ask for and
that is where volunteers become the real difference for our families. The hours our volunteers put in are banked and used to help elderly and disabled families meet their sweat equity requirement.
