Posted on 06/17/2007 6:38:31 AM PDT by Riflema
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- When Habitat for Humanity built the Fairway Oaks development here seven years ago, Mary Zeigler thought, "This is a blessing."
In just 17 days, an army of 10,000 volunteers, including former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter, built 85 low-cost houses, one of the nonprofit group's biggest "blitz build" projects.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
And it still is...................
Good point!
You are right that a lot of these problems are the result of a lack of proper maintenance. I am a woman so should be able to get away with saying this, but women do not maintain their houses properly, as a rule. (Also my car, but hey, that's why I got married).
Agreed--but the homeowner can't be expected to fix a fundamental problem. Since these houses were built on top of a landfill which is settling, that is not something the homeowners can fix. Building in a site like that is just basic stupidity.
As far as mildew goes, I just had a contractor explain to me the other day that some newer exterior wall sheathing materials have a tendency to build up mold within the walls. Again, this is not something the homeowner can take care of.
I didn’t realize that HFH was a liberal solution. I thought the liberal solution to problems was for the government to provide all to everyone.
HFH has built over 225,000 homes for over 1 million people. That is 1 million people who are no longer living off the taxpayer dime. They work to pay mortgages, and they put several hundred hours of volunteer time into the building of their homes. They must have a stable employment history, and be currently employed.
To me this is a conservative solution.
What?? Now that's a great thing for the male ego.
I told me wife, who says she didn't care that much about looks, that if she didn't care about my good looks, she should have let some shallow female (that appreciated my good looks) have me. Kind of a waste otherwise, you know?
Sounds as if some didn’t even have floor coverings. When they saw the cracks, they told the others who had carpets. They pulled the carpet up and found the cracks.
What they didn’t know wasn’t hurting them. But now do they want a new house since their lives have been ruined by the cracks?
I’ve got cracks in my 100-year-old house. I tell you, it’s a piece of junk not built to last! My basement floor has more cracks than I can count. I’d sue the guys who built it but most of them died about 30 years ago. Woe is me!
My 40-year-old garage floor has had a crack all the way down the middle for the last 30+ years. Oh, whatever am I going to do??
I don’t have any bugs, though. I wonder why that is? Maybe because I keep the dang place clean?
I actually worked on this build. It’s standard for slab homes to have carpeting installed directly over the slab with padding. I work for a flooring contractor. We come in and rip out old carpet and float and level the floor before installing engineered wood or parquet.
This is Florida. All of our homes are pretty much built on limestone and sand. Most of the older homes here in Jacksonville are off grade. If a piling settles, you call a man with a jack who shims it up...but if the concrete cracks - you fill it. Thirty bucks a bag and a little know- both easily acquired at Home Depot. The homeowners we charge for this service usually don’t go screaming off to the builder seven years later.
Homeowners with truly shoddy construction find cracks the hard way, when plumbing systems leak. I didn’t read anything in the article describing that - and it would have been impossible to avoid.
Jacksonville is 185 years old. Old “dump sites” includes ares where trash was burned by households.
The North Florida Builders Association is one of the single largest contributors to Habijax. All volunteers were working under constant and competent supervision.
“The word on the street is the new homeowners do the absolute minimum participation to qualify...and then they are never seen again. Still, as it doesn’t suck money out of my pocket, HFH is better than most programs.”
Yes, any local HFH “fundraisers” are primarily the work of the local chapters/membership of HFH, not possible homeowners. And, as far as that homeowner participation - and while the strength of it could vary from project to project - your characterization of it was never seen in my experience nor has it ever been reported to me in the experience of the many HFH members I know, members who continue to volunteer their time on home projects.
HFH is not a “perfect” effort, as there is no such thing, but as most Christians DO believe they are called to be charitable to their neighbors in need it is my belief that the mode of HFH and not socialism is a truer expression of how a Christian should practice that charity as it does not use the blunt instrument of government to “rob Peter to pay Paul” but functions entirely on the choice of those who contribute either their time, their money or both - freely.
I believe it is through such personal charity that the real expression of Christian compassion will succeed - if it is not obliterated by freedom-denying, government-mandated socialism.
I believe the support of such efforts is worthy of Christians who can intellectually recognize the evil of socialism; a recognition that most “liberal” Christians cannot see because they are willing to place government force as a means of achieving a benevolence they think is right. They fail to see how and why the ends do not justify the means.
As it is, it is an accomplished fact that the average rate of personal-giving for charity (on top of donations to churches) is highest in the U.S. in the so-called “Red” states and commensurately in counties where Church attendance is above the national average.
I believe Christians should build-up outfits like HFH even more while simultaneously trying to deny more tax dollars to government. Those simultaneous efforts are not incompatible in purpose, in my mind.
I only have to ask myself whether Yeshua would tell his own community to take care of a charitable issue itself or would he lead a “protest” march for that purpose, seeking to extract monies from Ceasar. I believe it would be the former not the latter.
It just seems strange that white, upper middleclass people were doing all the work. Hauling cases of beverages, wine, setting up the stage, emptying the garbage, moving tables, breaking down everything. Hundreds of HFH participants have benefited by getting a house at a fraction of it's true cost. Do they not give back????
Same thing with the local food banks. Able body welfare recipients sitting on their butts, while white upper-middle class people serve them. Can't a homeless person flip a hamburger or work a food line???
I agree with the rest of your characterization of the value of HFH. It's a noble objective, I support helping others...I just wish they would help themselves in a more visible way.
It's not a good program, its a great program. Had Carter limited his post-presidency activities to HFH rather than opening his piehole about topics which undermine our nation, he might almost have a legacy by now to erase his sorry four years as president.
Yes, there are people who abuse HFH. But overall, it has a splendid track record of doing exactly what it claims to do.
You want first-rate construction when it’s at-cost?
Every new home construction has problems. When you get a house at cost, you deal with the problems. Make the repairs yourself you lazy no-good, losers.
These people are just sucking off the good nature of people.
There are members of my extended, very extended by way of marriage, family who vacation that way also. I say its more enlightening than going to Myrtle Beach and after all it is free.
Well, glad to hear someone else thinking the same thing I am. You get a house (granted, they pay for it but at a much lower rate than the rest of us), you take care of it. My mother bought a brand new townhouse 10 years ago, within a few years she had some cracks, leaks etc. She took care of the problems, what her sons in law couldn’t fix, she paid someone to. We bought our house 16 years ago and within a few months, we had some things we had to fix. We didn’t whine to the bank or the previous owner, we fixed ‘em. Our house is 95 years old though, problems have been minimal over the years. Less issues than my mom has had with her new construction.
Home ownership is just that. If there are serious issues with buildings and contractors, they may be legally obligated to fix. One builder went out of business around here-same builder that built the townhouses where my mom lives-due to lawsuits from shoddy work and supplies. But when something is given to you by volunteers, fix it. Habitat for Humanity is a great service but the recipients bear some responsibility for their homes.
Looks to me that simply put...
People aren’t taking care of their houses, not structural issues with construction. Houses need maintenance, period.
“Maybe her art work would be better suited in a FEMA trailer.”
Or maybe the money spent on artwork would have been better spent at the nearest Home Depot. I always laugh when reading articles like this. I am a paraplegic and own my own home with a (much) higher monthly mortgage payment. It was 30 years old when I bought it and I have spent a lot of time repairing anything I can on my own, including dragging wagonloads of fill dirt around the 1/2 acre to fill in low spots. I hook the wagon to the back of my manual wheelchair. I am also a couple of years older than she. Not bragging, just living life in the real world. It is better for my home and much better for my health. I would suggest less time sitting in the living room complaining would be the place to start.
Now. You are one cool and admirable dude, as I assume by your labor and bicepts. Or dudette, in that I fear your wrath and bicepts since I could not discern gender by your post.
My church in Atlanta used to give money and time to Charis Community Housing, an organization very similar to HfH.
http://www.chariscommunity.org/
The question I have after reading this article is...
How did her concrete floors get bare? IIRC we put carpet or linoleum in the houses we built, no bare concrete floors.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.