Mount Vernon Baptist Church partners with Durham Habitat for Humanity on home builds
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Some home building cues in Durham are obvious, like the latest high-rise residential tower under construction downtown. However, in Durham's Southside community, not far from the gentrified homes that some dreamers wish they could afford, you can hear the echoes of hammers driving nails as crews build the first of ten Habitat for Humanity homes.
This comes after Vice President Kamala Harris said she'll work to provide up to $25,000 in down payment assistance to first-time prospective homeowners as part of her economic plan.
That possibility makes Reverend Jerome T. Washington smile. His church owns the land where Habitat is building now.
"I was excited," he said when asked about the Harris proposal. "We meet people every day who are hard-working people who are sincere and wanting homeownership, but it's out of reach for them. So that idea was a fantastic idea of helping people through the process of becoming a homeowner."
He knows as Durham attracts more homebuyers from out of town with lots of cash after selling homes in other hot markets, the competition's led to escalating prices at a time when interest rates are also high.
"And because of the need for affordable housing, our church initially thought of working with developers in building homes, not necessarily affordable housing when we thought about it. So we revisited the idea and realized that the best possible way to do this was a partnership with people who build houses, affordable houses every day," he said.
So the Mount Vernon Church he pastors formed an alliance with Habitat, and the results can be seen by anyone who drives or walks through the construction zone not far from downtown Durham.
"For years, Mount Vernon owned this particular property. As a matter of fact.... it may have been where the old parsonage is," he said. "But over the years, we've acquired properties around this community as we move forward in building affordable housing."
Plans call for building ten Habitat homes on the property owned by his church. The families who'll occupy those homes haven't been selected yet, so there's still time to apply for one in Durham, or wherever you live if there's a Habitat build underway.
"First of all, contact Habitat for Humanity," said Carleena Deonanan of Durham Habitat's board of directors. "We have on our Website a list of all the things that you need to do in order to qualify. Stay on it, be diligent. Make sure that you're getting the documents that you need to get. We will work with your homeowner's services that we are open and we want to work with people. And don't be discouraged. These are ten beautiful homes, but we have other homes and we have other opportunities for homeownership. So come. If you want to explore homeownership in any way, come to us. We will help."
The activity's underway, a short drive away from the abandoned former headquarters of Durham's police department, where a developer's plans call for renovating the building as part of a project to provide some affordable units, along with market-priced apartments and a hotel.
"I think the keyword is mixed-use, particularly because of what has happened historically with housing developments and income-based developments. I think it's a great idea.," said Reverend Washington. "We took that into consideration...We're happy to say that Mt. Vernon came down on the right side of history when it came to providing those services because the gospel we embrace calls upon us to be transformed...And so not only are we transforming lives, but we'll be happy to say we transform communities."
"They will also be very close to the church. So they will have the outreach of the church of elders, of people in their community. So this is what neighborhoods are about. This is what humanity is about." Deonanan said. "And when I reflect back on what Habitat was originally built for, the money that came through, Habitat called the Fund for Humanity. I find that to be very, very powerful, because what we've done is we've taken the energy of resources, and we've placed them together with Mt. Vernon Baptist Church for Humanity. So we are really proud, and we ask for other faith-based organizations to consider Habitat for Humanity as they may have land."
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