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By Jacquie Mazziotta | | No Comments »
Thanks to the Hudson Coalition and Habitat for Humanity of Summit County, the city of Stow has gained two new residents, along with a new home. Through generous support from local businesses, organizations and residents, the Coalition is responsible for the construction of one of the three Habitat for Humanity homes located on Graham Road.
New homeowner, Melissa Robison, along with her daughter who attends school in the Stow-Munroe Falls community, took up residence in their new home in October.
“This is my first home — I have never owned a home,” explains the full-time licensed practical nurse who works in Uniontown as well as holds a second part-time job. Through the Habitat for Humanity program, Melissa’s daughter will live in her own home for the first time.
“I always thought Stow would be a prime location for a coalition,” says Belinda Wing, volunteer coordinator for the Hudson Coalition. “We’re trying to push the Stow community to understand what Habitat does, and there are so many similarities between Hudson and Stow. We could do the same thing here.”
The Hudson Coalition, established in 1991, is a group of faith partners, organizations and individuals located mainly in Hudson who joined forces to build homes for Habitat for Humanity of Summit County.
“We have expanded,” explains Wing. “We now have corporations and religious organizations where volunteers live or work within Hudson, which brings us together. We have 12 coalition members, and each member provides me with a work team and funding.”
Habitat of Summit County works with four coalitions, while the remainder of support comes from multiple funding partners. Habitat’s initiative is to expand home construction outside of the city of Akron and into neighboring Summit County neighborhoods, according to Rochelle Fisher, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Summit County.
“We made a presentation at the Cuyahoga Falls city council meeting because they expressed a desire to get a coalition going in Cuyahoga Falls,” explains Fisher of the group’s efforts. “We have built homes in Barberton and have begun talks with Twinsburg Township.”
With three Habitat homes now in Stow and two more planned for Moreland Street next year, Fisher says the city of Stow has been very supportive. One of those homes will be built through the support of the Hudson Coalition, and Fisher hopes to begin a coalition with Stow so that it might be built in partnership between the two, as the Stow group begins its efforts.
The second house will be built through the efforts of the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a Fortune 500 financial services membership organization for Lutherans.
According to Fisher, Thrivent Financial has contracted with Habitat International for over $300 million over a five-year period, and St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Stow is the lead on the efforts for the second house.
Habitat is also reviewing additional land located on Fishcreek Road, and support is abundant, as there are currently four churches in Stow which expressed interest and would like to get involved with the new home construction.
“Last year I met with Stow Mayor Karen Fritschel and some folks from the Department of Building and Engineering,” Fisher explains. “We originally approached the group and asked them to waive permit fees, as the county had already waived some fees.”
Upon approval from city council, the mayor was successful at getting her own church involved, Fisher says. “She has been fantastic to work with — all of the folks at the city of Stow have been fantastic, including Bill Drew and the entire city engineer’s office.”
The initial reason for Habitat becoming involved with the Stow community can be traced to one of the families who recently moved into one of three newly completed Habitat homes on Graham Road.
The family was originally planning to participate through the Habitat program in Akron. Although during the interim, one of the family’s children, who was enrolled in the preschool program at Indian Trail Elementary, was diagnosed with autism. If the family would have pursued that Akron home, they would have been forced to pull their child from the preschool program.
“That family was going to leave the Habitat program because with an autistic child, routine is essential to well being,” explains Fisher. “I made a conscious decision to find a lot to build in Stow, and I came upon three lots and bought them just below the market rate.”
Habitat was then able to secure sponsorship from the Hudson Coalition, First Energy Corp., Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati and Summit County Department of Community and Economic Development.
Despite the many misconceptions about Habitat for Humanity homes and qualifications, following is a brief list of criteria each family must meet in order to qualify for the program.
Family income has to be between 30 percent and 80 percent of the area median income of Summit County. For example, an average family of four would have to make no less than $19,500 per year and no more than $52,000 per year. (Guidelines are published each year by HUD.)
Monthly debt to income ratio must be 39 percent or less.
Habitat homeowners are required to repay the mortgage amount in full. The loan is a zero interest mortgage, generally a 20- to 30-year note, which is based on the family’s income.
According to Fisher, homeowners repay the cost of construction, and that average cost right now is $80,000, with the current land average at about $30,000 per lot. Overall, the total mortgage comes in around $110,000 and is financed through Habitat, which serves as the land developer, general contractor and construction company and mortgage financier.
The average time frame to complete a house from start to finish is six months. Each family has the opportunity to see the Habitat land inventory and select the property where they would like to live.
Habitat homeowners are required to complete 250 sweat equity hours per adult through the Habitat partnership before moving into the home, which creates a bond between the volunteers and the family. These hours are completed through helping build on their home and the homes of others, volunteering with other non-profits and classroom training sessions which provide the new homeowner with training on budgeting, taxes, maintenance of their new home, gardening, nutrition, first aid and more.
Habitat provides training and construction experts, as many of the volunteers have not participated in anything like this before, nor are they experienced in construction labor. It is not infrequent that a volunteer comes on site with absolutely no experience hanging drywall (among other duties), but by the end of the day, they definitely have a good idea of how it’s done through a first-hand perspective.
“Working with the families is fabulous,” says Wing. “It’s a lot of fun — the return on volunteering is priceless.
“My job is to get volunteer help one day a week, along with funding,” she adds. “Habitat sets the budget and then asks the Coalition to build the home.”
The Hudson Coalition agreed to raise $42,000, nearly half of the cost along with approximately seven volunteers who work on Saturdays.
During blitz week, volunteers work onsite for seven straight days. According to Wing, Allstate Insurance provided five work teams throughout the build, and Bishop Financial Advisors took volunteer employees to the site on Fridays.
The Robison home makes the 19th Habitat home the Hudson Coalition has built with Habitat for Humanity of Summit County.
And they don’t show any signs of slowing down.
Tags: Habitat for Humanity of Summit County, Hudson Coalition
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