Microfinance Boosts the Poor

We have seen a very sharp decline in the home building industry. Many builders have been pretty well devastated around here, said Kent Sherry, executive director of the Building Industry Association of Clark County.

Springfield did not see a housing boom in the late 1990s and in the early part of this century like some areas of the country, he said, because the county lost population. Between 1990 and 2000, Clark County experienced a 2 percent drop in population, reducing the total number of residents to 144,742 people.

The population has continued to decline and was estimated in 2006 at 141,872, an additional 2 percent loss.

The majority of our customer base comes from existing residents, so if that number declines and they can not sell their homes, they don't build, Taylor said. read more