Madison Habitat seeks family for home

MADISON — Madison County Habitat for Humanity has the land to build its ninth house.

And it has the money to buy the bulk of the home’s building materials.

But it lacks one key ingredient — a family to live there.

“Normally, we don’t have the land when we pick a family - this is the first time when we have the land and are waiting for the right family,” said Madison Habitat’s Susan Berry, who heads the group’s Family Selection Committee.

The current economic downturn is one of the reasons the group is finding it challenging to locate a family this time. “What makes it harder is the economy, because so many people’s credit is really in a mess,” the Oak Park resident said.

“A lot of people call [with interest about a house,] but we’re basically a bank, we’re not going to lend money to someone who’s going to fail,” said Berry. “We’re trying to change people’s lives and if we set them up for failure then we haven’t changed anything.”

Habitat does not sell its houses to people already under heavy financial burden, because a monthly mortgage is only going to add to the problem, said Radiant resident Don Gerheart, the group’s current president.

Although finding a family is taking a little longer this time around, the group still expects to break ground on its latest home in spring 2010. It will probably be between 1,100 and 1,300 square feet and its number of bedrooms will be determined later, after a family is selected.

Madison County’s Treasure Arrington donated the planned home’s 1.007-acre Rochelle lot to Madison Habitat back in the 1990s, but the group then had no way of using it, since it was “landlocked” (had no direct access to any roads), according to Gerheart.

It was more recently able to secure land for a driveway between the wooded lot and South Blue Ridge Turnpike (Route 231) using a strip of land adjacent to Madison Habitat’s eighth house, which built last year for the Broyles family at 4779 South Blue Ridge Turnpike. The strip hasn’t been “graveled” yet, however, and is still just bare ground.

How to qualify for home
Gerheart said there are many misconceptions regarding the houses that Habitat builds. One misconception Gerheart said he hears frequently is that they are “free” to the family.

“It’s not a free house, you have to pay mortgage, taxes, et cetera like a regular house,” he said. “(It is just that) we hold the mortgage and charge no interest — we aren’t trying to make a profit.”

The process for getting one of the houses starts with a family coming to Madison Habitat’s attention, either on its own or through a referral. The family is given information about the program and asked to fill out a multi-page questionnaire. Upon returning it, if it qualifies after a credit check, then a home visit is scheduled and the organization requests both personal and professional references.

Finally, the board of directors has to formally accept the applicant family. Normally, said Berry, this is when the program starts searching for a plot of land, something they do not have to do in this particular instance.

To qualify for a house a family has to meet certain requirements, including:

• It must live, work, or own land in Madison County.

• It has to meet certain financial criteria and it has to be living in a “bad” situation (anything from dilapidated housing to living in an over-crowded situation, said Berry).

• Family members 18 and older have to perform 250 “sweat equity” hours. These hours are spent volunteering with the program, helping build and attending meetings. It is a way for the family to give back to the program, and be involved, she said.

Future concerns
Over the past several years, Madison County’s soaring land prices have caused the houses constructed to more than double in price. The initial house built in Madison County was slightly more than $40,000, whereas, the one completed in fall 2008 in Oak Park cost approximately $90,000.

This skyrocketing expense is one of the two main concerns Gerheart has for the organization. The cost of the land has to be included in the price of the house and his worry is about having to pass that expense on to a financially-challenged family. This is especially so since the group normally has to buy the land, as it is not often donated.

Also, if the land is not a “grandfathered” lot, meaning it existed as a small lot before newer county zoning required larger lots, then it must be at least three acres. This adds to the expense and the upkeep.

Gerheart and Berry also worry about finding enough volunteers. The group has between 25 and 30 people who come to most meetings, but these tend to be people who have been involved for a while.

Though they often have enough people willing to help at a work site, Habitat is actively looking for people to take a more active role in the organizational aspect of the group.

“When you’re not building, people tend to lose interest and we tend to get out of the public eye,” said Gerheart. “A lot of the people who’ve been in the organization for, say, 10 years have been doing it for 10 years, and you need new people to come in with new ideas.”

About Madison Habitat
Madison Habitat traces its roots back to 1995; previously it was affiliated with an Orange County Habitat for Humanity chapter. Initially, it constructed a house a year, until the group found that pace a little too impractical to maintain and switched to a new home every other year schedule.

It has two major fund-raisers every year - a March daffodil sale conducted jointly at Yoder’s Country Market and Madison Food Lion and a May walk-a-thon at Madison County High School.

Where to get info
The group meets at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month at Madison United Methodist Church at 505 S. Main St. in downtown Madison.

For information on Madison Habitat, call (540) 948-3200 or visit http://www.habitat.org/cd/kit/homepage.aspx?pagemadisonhabitat. For information on its parent organization, Habitat for Humanity International, visit http://www.habitat.org.

(Madison County Eagle Editor Don Richeson contributed to this story.)

IF YOU GO
What: Next Madison County Habitat for Humanity meeting.

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6.

Where: Madison United Methodist Church at 505 S. Main St. in downtown Madison.