Local Family Realizes Homeownership Dreams With Habitat Help

Dan and Katie York always wanted a home where they could raise their 2-year-old daughter Samara. But they never thought they would get one with the economy in its current condition.

Last Friday, they moved into a duplex on Chesapeake Court by the sweat of their own brows with help from Harford Habitat for Humanity.

“It’s amazing,” Dan York, 28, said. “We gutted the entire kitchen, doors, windows, all sorts of stuff.”

Katie said the two volunteered four months and put in 500 hours, with Habitat before they could get their own home.

“It’s very surreal to finally be in the house,” Katie York said.

Fully appreciating the York’s story requires understanding their struggle.

“Before moving into our home, we lived in one room in the basement of Dan’s parents’ home and the three of us slept on a futon,” Katie York said.

But when they partnered with Habitat things began to change. They took mandatory classes—life skills, budgeting, healthy credit habits and finding hidden cash—geared toward ultimately helping them remain homeowners.

The Yorks, and all other families who buy homes through Harford Habitat are required to take homeownership classes, Harford Habitat Executive Director Joann Blewett explained.

“There’s a whole education process,” Blewett said. “It’s going to be a life change for them. They’re taught budgeting and how to be a good neighbor.”

Harford Habitat for Humanity is a 501 (C) (3) non-profit organization that receives support from the community, the government and private funding. The ecumenical Christian housing organization builds and repairs homes in partnership with qualifying families in an effort to promote homeownership and eliminate substandard housing one family at a time.

“This family has done a lot of work to get to this day,” Blewett said as the Yorks cut the ribbon on their new home.

Many who think about Habitat for Humanity often think about the construction aspect, but Blewett said she focuses on building strong families.

“There’s no granite countertop in a Habitat house,” Blewett said. “There’s no tile. There’s vinyl and carpet.”

Construction costs are kept low so the payments remain affordable. Most Habitat families pay about $500 per month including mortgage, taxes, insurance and other escrows.

“They get to pick carpet colors and cabinet colors,” Blewett said.

But there is nothing extravagant about the homes they receive.

 “It’s a hand up, not a hand out,” Blewett said.

Blewett said that before a family can qualify, Habitat does a home visit to assess whether the family truly has a need. There are financial guidelines and the family has to make from 30 to 60 percent of the median income for Harford County. That means a family of five would make about $25,000 per year, she said.

There are background checks, bank records are examined and landlord references are required.

“It’s not a give away,” Blewett said.

Blewett, who has been the executive director for the past eight years, said last year the organization built six homes. But by June 30 this year, Habitat will complete 10.

“We have all the funding for our 10 houses,” Blewett said.

The less known “Renew. Repair. Fix it Up” program is used to help make critical repairs such as fixing roofs, hot water heaters and building handicap ramps for those who have a financial need, she said.

Last year, Harford Habitat made 27 repairs. This year, the organization hopes to make 60 repairs, but the funding is exhausted.

“Many of the families we serve are elderly or disabled,” Blewett said. “We recently helped a woman who hadn’t been out of her house in a year. People were bringing her food.”

Blewett said Habitat needs donations to build more ramps and reach the repair goal. There are 20 people currently on the waiting list for repairs, she said.

Blewett said ramps cost anywhere from $2,000-$8000 depending on the length of the ramp. Each of the other critical repairs that the organization wants to finish cost about $4500.

“So we keep chipping away at it,” Blewett said. “It all depends on funding or in-kind donations. We’ve got to prioritize and keep chipping away.”

Blewett said whether fixing homes for people in need or helping others become first-time homeowners, the focus is always the same.

“It’s all about the families,” Blewett said.