By: Deborah Johnson Wood
A burned-out home in the Oakdale Neighbors neighborhood has sat vacant since last winter. That's when it caught fire and the owner, Mike Kelly, decided it wasn't worth fixing. Kelly, his wife, two young children, and mother-in-law have found another place to live, but he needed to do something with the house.
"I was trying to think of different options and I happened to see an article in the paper about Habitat for Humanity, and I thought, hey, that might be the way to go," Kelly says. "I can do something with that property and not leave the neighbors with a burned out house."
Habitat for Humanity builds houses for families whose income is 30 to 50 percent less than the area mean income. The program is the only way many families can purchase a home. Once approved, the family chooses from a list of available properties. Then they invest some 500 hours of "sweat equity" to qualify for the home. Most choose to put that time into helping to build their house.
"We'll acquire the property as soon as the city inspector approves it," says Habitat Spokesperson Roger Peterman. "Then we'll put it in our system, but it could take a year or more for a family to select it. Until then, we don't know what will be built there, but a typical home is two stories."
Peterman says Habitat built 22 homes in Kent County last year, 14 of those are in Grand Rapids.
Last July, the Grand Rapids Planning Commission approved the demolition of the Kelly's house. The demolition was scheduled for this week.
Source: Mike Kelly; Roger Peterman, Habitat for Humanity
Photograph by Brian Kelly
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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