CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Habitat for Humanity of Hampton Roads has another home in the works. In Chesapeake, a team of volunteers spent the morning wrapping up construction on a new home for a family of three.
Habitat For Humanity volunteer coordinator Alissa Wilson said crews started renovating the home in June, cleaning it up and turning it into something brand new.
“When we first got the house, it was infested with nothing but mold inside," she said.
In the city's Deep Creek South neighborhood, Habitat For Humanity construction crews worked alongside a team from A1 Sewer & Drain for the big building effort.
“Doing some siding, painting, building a fence. Helping out the community," said Ryan Bernard, the general manager of A1 Sewer & Drain. “The housing market, you know, prices are through the roof so not everybody can afford to buy a reasonably priced home.”
We are all paying more in rent and mortgage and the need for affordable housing means more demand at Habitat For Humanity, Wilson said.
“In the past couple of years, we’ve seen more applicants as the need for housing has gone up," she said.
This latest home is for Kimberly Waters. She’s working alongside construction crews to help build her dream home.
"Homeownership is very important to me. It’s an investment," Waters said. "I’ve rented all my life.”
Waters is a single mother of two and said she had a hard time finding an affordable place to stay.
"It was very stressful. Very stressful. Some days you wanted to give up," Waters said. "I was looking online, I was driving around looking, newspapers... whatever I could find, that’s where I was looking.”
These homes are never given away for free. Habitat for Humanity representatives work with families toward homeownership. Homeowners must help build their homes and pay a mortgage every month that Wilson said is usually less than $1,000.
“People need housing. With the way the market is going up, it’s a struggle for some people to even afford a one-bedroom apartment," Wilson said. "The more houses that we can build that are affordable, the more families we can get in and the less they have to worry.”
The close date on Waters' home is October 20.
