By Betsy Finklea
Marion-Dillon County Habitat For Humanity announced at a meeting in Lake View recently that football star Darius Leonard was donating property to build five homes in the Lake View area.
Executive Director Ricky Hardee made the announcement along with Raymond Foxworth, Leonard’s manager who represented him at the event.
Foxworth said he and Leonard had been discussing this and working on this for months. “Everything happens for a reason,” he said in talking about the connection they made with Habitat For Humanity.
Foxworth said that Darius’ main goal is to bring housing and businesses to Lake View. He said there are not many options and opportunities for new housing in Lake View.
Foxworth said they are starting with five homes, but they would like to do 70 in the future. “We just want everybody to have decent housing,” Foxworth said. “That’s the main goal.”
Hardee said that’s what Habitat for Humanity is all about. “We don’t build big fancy homes. We build simple, decent, affordable homes because that’s what Habitat is all about. It’s about affordability.” said Hardee.
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Hardee explained how the program operates. Habitat for Humanity does not give homes away. They don’t charge any interest on their loans. They sell the home at the cost of construction. They depend on grant funding and any kind of donation that will keep the cost of that home down and makes the home more affordable for the family. The homeowner pays a mortgage payment and an escrow payment which covers county taxes, city taxes, and homeowners insurance.
Habitat for Humanity is not affiliated with HUD. They are not part of a federal program. They do not receive federal funding unless they apply and are awarded a federal government.
Habitat is a Christian ecumenical housing ministry. They seek to bring together to people of faith. Jim Kirkland, the Dillon County director, is trying to get a Faith Build together where churches contribute financially to build a home or they contribute manpower to help build it.
Habitat has college students who come in on their fall and spring breaks to work on homes. Every spring and fall, a group from Villanova comes. Sienna College has been a repeat group. Over 70 different colleges have been a part of their program in the 30 years that Habitat has been in the area.
“We have a great track history of changing communities and changing the lives of families,” Hardee said.
“We build primarily new homes,” said Hardee. “We get a lot of calls for repair work.” He said they don’t have the money to build new homes and do repairs unless they get grant money from organizations. They do no work on mobile homes.
A person gets an application. They will list their income and their debt. Habitat does a credit check, but does not look for a credit score. They look for a debt to income ratio. This debt to income ratio can’t be more than 42 percent. The family has to qualify financially.
Once it goes through the financial aspect, the applications are turned over to the family selection committee. Leonard and his wife, Kayla, have asked to be involved in this process, Hardee said.
Then one has to live in substandard housing, which is a broad area. One factor could be that one spends more than 50 percent of their income on rent and don’t own your own home. Overcrowding, whether your home is unsafe, whether you have adequate heat and air, etc.
The Family Selection Committee makes a recommendation to the full board. The homes go to those with the greatest need.
Hardee said that “Habitat is a hand up, not a hand out.” Each family is required to have 300 hours of sweat equity in their home. It doesn’t just have to be the homeowner. It could be family members, co-workers, church members, etc. It gives the homeowner “ownership” in the home. It is just part of the program that Habitat does.
The land that Leonard purchased is located between South Cedar Street and Waverly Street. It is about an acre and a half of property.
Hardee then opened it up for questions. After some questions, Senator Kent Williams made some remarks. “This is a blessing,” said Williams, “and it works.” He said this is a mission of a faith-based organization that is changing the quality of life. Williams said there is a great need in Dillon County. Williams said to take advantage of this. He said they won’t know unless they fill out the application.
In their 30 years of existence, Marion-Dillon County Habitat has built 48 homes.
PICTURED ABOVE is Ricky Hardee at the podium and Raymond Foxworth. (Photo by Betsy Finklea/The Dillon County News, LLC)
