Making housing affordable to low-income families
“The old house sits on a bare lot, ready to be torn down. Yesterday, a family that had spent years here moved up the road to a new house –a simple, decent house they helped to build and now are buying. The cold nights they spend huddled within these crumbling walls and the rainstorms they endured beneath its leaking roof soon will be distant memories. Already, they have begun building a new life.”- Building Houses, Building Hope.
Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County is a non-profit organization and a chapter of the international Habitat for Humanity. It works hard, with the help of volunteers, to create housing for the homeless and to eliminate subsidized housing throughout the area.
The Monroe County chapter of Habitat for Humanity has a volunteer base of more than 300 members. Leslie Howe is the only full-time employee currently working at the Monroe County chapter.
Applicants don’t simply put their names on a list. They must visit the office and fill out an application, which is then presented to the board to decide whether or not they qualify. The applicants must have lived in the area for at least 12 months, they must be in real need, and they have to be willing to put in building hours as well. According to Leslie Howe, much depends on the “affordability of the area.”
The Monroe County office recently received grant money to purchase foreclosed properties, so along with its normal building projects, it will be working on these as well soon.
The Monroe County chapter recently held “Praise the Roof” at the Sherman Theater. The fundraiser brought in 325 people to help raise money for Habitat. It featured three contemporary Christian rock groups and a battle-of-the-bands format.
Bike and Build — an event where college students ride their bikes across the county, stopping in certain areas to help Habitat for Humanity build — will visit Monroe County’s local chapter this summer.
The reality is that millions of people live in homes that should be condemned, but they cannot afford anything more. To many people in need of Habitat for Humanity, the organization is a blessing.
For more information about the Monroe County Chapter of Habitat for Humanity see their website.
Brandi Devine is an English major with a concentration in professional media writing and a minor in communications at East Stroudsburg University. She plans to graduate in 2011. Devine is from the small town of Brackney, Pa. She attended Montrose High School and was an opinion editor for her high school paper, The Meteor Chronicle. Brandi is currently the forum editor for the Stroud Courier. Writing, she says, “has always been a passion” for her, and she hopes to carry this on throughout her career.
