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Alicia Isom and her girls are proud owners of Harbor Habitat's first renovated house

By KATE GENELLIE - H-P Staff Writer

Published: Saturday, March 31, 2012 12:52 PM EDT

BENTON HARBOR - Alica Isom knows her house from the bottom almost to the top. Isom has worked in its crawl space and has seen the insides of its walls, even though she only got her keys to it on Friday.

Isom is the owner of Harbor Habitat for Humanity's newest home, at 1354 Agard Avenue in Benton Harbor, and will be officially presented with her keys today.

Actually, the house is not exactly new, although it represents a new approach for the local Habitat affiliate, which began in 1995.

The Agard home is Harbor Habitat's first renovation of an old house rather than an entirely new house.

"We didn't know what to expect," said Rod Lawrence, Harbor Habitat's director of development. At the time renovation began in July the house was run-down, gutted and covered with graffiti.

Now, the inside of the 1,150-square foot home is full of light, with hardwood floors and new appliances.

Lawrence said the construction workers built the house up from its bare bones, building an addition, reinsulating the house, installing an air-exchange system and trying to keep it as energy efficient as they could.

Their goal was to build a house people could grow old in, Lawrence said.

Harbor Habitat is leaning toward doing more renovations in the future, said Nick Weingart, the organization's director of purchasing and warehouse. It's only slightly less expensive to renovate a building than to build a house from scratch - and that's only if everything goes right. The unpleasant discovery of asbestos or a weak foundation can send a bill skyrocketing.

But renovating is greener, because fewer materials are thrown away, Weingart said.

Isom and her two daughters worked a combined 300 hours of "sweat equity" to earn their house. Isom may have worked the bulk of it, helping to build her own house and working in others, but her daughters contributed 50 hours by helping their mother and working in Harbor Habitat's community garden. The 300 hours are part of Harbor Habitat's program to get its homeowners ready at the same time the construction workers ready the homes.

As part of the program, Isom also took home repair and finance classes offered by Harbor Habitat. Isom became so enamored of the Dave Ramsey style of finance management, taught in the class Financial Peace University with Ramsey, that she went to Grand Rapids to get Ramsey's autograph for her birthday.

Even on days when Isom wasn't working on her home, she and her daughters drove by every day since construction began to pick up trash and watch the building's progress.

"They wanted to be hands-on," Isom said. "The transformation, it gives you a sense of pride because you had a hand in that."

Isom is a student teacher at Countryside Academy's early learning center and will graduate with her master in education degree from the University of Phoenix in May.

Harbor Habitat is a Christian nonprofit housing ministry that works to eliminate substandard housing in Benton Harbor and Benton Township. The affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International is planning five more houses in 2012 and has three families who have started the process of homeownership, but the organization needs two more, Lawrence said.

For more information, call Harbor Habitat at 269-925-9635.

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Copyright © 2012 - Herald Palladium
 

First Harbor Habitat for Humanity “Partner Family” Pays off Home Mortgage

In October 2010 the Roberson family became the first Harbor Habitat for Humanity “partner family” to complete the mortgage terms on their Habitat home.  Gloria Roberson and her daughter Tonya were one of two partner families selected for homes in 1996, Harbor Habitat’s first year building homes in Benton Harbor.  “Gloria Roberson was a model ‘partner family’ consistently making her monthly payments on time, year after year,” says Lisa LaValley, Harbor Habitat’s Director of Finance and Interim Executive Director.

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HHFH Board of Directors with Roberson Family

 In 1996, Gloria Roberson was one of a number of applicants who responded to an advertisement Harbor Habitat placed in the Herald Palladium soliciting potential partner families. “I waited until the very last hour of the very last day to get my application in,” Gloria admits. “It was my teenage daughter who finally convinced me that this was something that we could do together, and I filled it out and drove it down to the [Harbor Habitat] office.”         

When reflecting on how her life has been impacted by this opportunity for home ownership, Gloria talked about security and financial stability, but clearly stated that getting her daughter out of the substandard living conditions that they were in and raising her in a home that she owned was what inspired her to complete the 300 hours of required sweat equity to build their home, and make the mortgage payments each month. “We are just so thankful for this opportunity, for the friendships we have made and the sense of accomplishment that this has given us.”

Roberson made additional payments to pay off her mortgage ahead of schedule.  “I didn’t want to take any debt into 2011. It was a goal, and I stuck to it.” Gloria claims she has no plans to burn the completed mortgage document she received, but says she will quietly celebrate the accomplishment in her heart.

"Gloria exemplifies the kind of partner and homeowner Habitat seeks and celebrates," says Sandy Pearson, CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Michigan. "Gloria's early payoff on her mortgage has helped keep hope alive for other Michigan families because loan repayments help Habitat build and repair additional houses."

In the fifteen years that followed Harbor Habitat’s partnership with the Roberson family, the affiliate has partnered with area business, churches and volunteer groups to complete a total of 104 Habitat homes in the Benton Harbor community, and helped 104 local families achieve their goals for homeownership. On July 24, 2010, Harbor Habitat celebrated their 15 year anniversary with the dedication of House #100 and the raising of the walls on house #101, celebrating the milestone achievement, and demonstrating their dedication to continue building affordable homes in Benton Harbor.

According to Stephen Brobeck, Executive Director of the Consumer Federation of America, “Paying off the mortgage on a home has been, and will continue to be, the easiest way for lower income households to build personal wealth.” In paying off their mortgage, the Roberson family, not only eliminated the cost of housing from their monthly budget, but they have secured a valuable asset for their family.

Affordable housing is one of the most crucial needs in this country – one in three American families spends more than 30 percent of its income on housing and one in seven spends more than 50 percent.* In Benton Harbor/Benton Township, the largest community in Berrien County, there is a disproportionate number of rental properties as compared to owner-occupied homes. Aging community stock and lack of new single-family residential construction has created a severe housing need in the community.