Jimmy Carter-built Homes in Habi-Tatters: Residents Unhappy About Quality of Free Homes

The Evil Conservative Blog ^ | 04 January 2009 | Evil Conservative

[nysuperdoodle]

When Fairway Oaks was developed eight years ago, it was praised by HUD Secretary Mel Martinez as "an excellent example of the public sector and private sectors working together to develop decent and affordable housing," said Martinez. "'Sweat equity' programs, like Habitat for Humanity, help more and more low-income families open the door to homeownership." Sweat equity. Right.

Now Habitat for Humanity, the "darling of liberal social activists," is being sued for sloppiness and a reckless disregard for the consequences of building on top of uncompressed garbage. 85 residents, dissatisfied at the quality of their free lodgings paid for by the likes of Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt, have hired attorney April Charney to sue someone, presumably Habitat for Humanity.

Charney seems psyched. She says that people should have been told that they were living on a garbage dump. She may have a point there, but if these people were buying their homes instead of occupying free ones, it's a safe bet some would have asked.

[Patrick1]

You get what you pay for.

[wac3rd]

Do-gooders done in by the trial lawyers, ironic, yes?

[Philo1962]

Habitat for Humanity has been putting up sloppy construction for a long, long time. “Sweat equity” is a wonderful idea in theory, but when you put it into practice, you get single moms who have never held a power tool before, trying to build their own homes. And as we see here, the construction sites often leave a lot to be desired.

The resulting “house” has a life expectancy of about 10-15 years before the health department comes in and condemns it.

[Jeliota]

We actually have an area in my town, Knoxville, that was redeveloped by the government from massive housing projects down to individual houses. These were then sold to the former residents of the housing projects for essentially nothing on the idea that if they “owned” the homes they would feel a sense of pride. What they actually did was to band together and sue the construction companies for things like misaligned wallpaper.

[webschooner]

Everything Carter has touched turns to shiite.

[CindyDawg]

I read somewhere that one of the reasons these houses get in bad shape is because some of the owners are reluctant to do routine maintenance.

[The Cajun]

I read somewhere that one of the reasons these houses get in bad shape is because some of the owners are reluctant to do routine maintenance.

A slight correction:
.......some of the owners are reluctant too lazy to do routine maintenance.

[Try_Freedom]

I imagine that many of those who could not afford houses, cannot afford routine maintenance either.

[Lorianne]

Sigh. I’ve seen a number of these Habitat for Humanity homes go to ruin very quickly. The reason is not only that they are built quickly and cheaply.

Buildings take maintenance, even good buildings. So do cars, clothes, etc. Some people get that. Others just don’t.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

but if these people were buying their homes instead of occupying free ones, it's a safe bet some would have asked.

Some maybe. But is "did this land used to be a garbage dump?" a usual question when you are buying a home?

[The Cajun]

I imagine that many of those who could not afford houses, cannot afford routine maintenance either.

Bulls..t, don't tell that to someone who has worked 80 and 90 hour weeks more than I care to remember. You want something, work for it, you still can't afford it, work harder. That's the only way what you will eventually have will mean something to you.

[kcvl]

April Charney

member of NACA - National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) is a nationwide organization of more than 1000 attorneys

April Charney is a consumer lawyer with Jacksonville Area Legal Aid since 2004. Being one of more than 30 attorneys with JALA gives April the opportunity to pursue consumer law in many directions. She advocates against all manner of predatory consumer practices. During 2005-2006 the Consumer Unit of JALA defended over $10 million dollars worth of homes from foreclosure in Northeast Florida.

In Arkansas, while in private practice many clients paid her fees with money carried in their boots, after digging up the buried funds from their land. April says her best success with jury trials was during pregnancy. And once, she tried a case for an unrepresented litigant at the court’s request, while her two year old son sat on the judge’s lap.

NACA which charges a fee to the 'client' and the mortgage holder. In other words, it ain't free as in 'advocate' for 'the poor' for nothing.

[Philo1962]

All of you have heard part of the truth. Here’s the whole truth. Our firm’s charity committee got the sales pitch from Habitat For Humanity (H4H) in 2006, and they were convincing. So H4H became our firm’s designated charity for 2007. This meant that our employees were encouraged to make a paycheck deduction for them (tax deductible, of course). The firm would match the paycheck deductions each month.

Also, we had “casual Fridays” all summer, and “Wear Your Bears Paraphernalia To Work” day every Friday during the football season, and we paid $5.00 a week for the privilege of wearing jeans and T-Shirts to work. All of this added up to an enormous amount of money. We also provided a lot of free labor and power tools at their construction sites on the weekends.

Here’s what we learned from that experience.

Other companies donated materials, but usually the materials were cheap. To make a long story short, this wasn’t the kind of stuff you’d use to build your own home. The sites were often left open to the elements during the week, so we had a lot of rain damage to drywall. A lot of our power tools turned up missing.

The concrete poured for the foundations was too thin, and cracked before we even finished construction. During a heavy rain, water seeped through the cracks. The site itself was not properly prepared. You have to go over the ground with a steamroller or the weight of the walls will cause the ground to settle. Since the settling doesn’t occur evenly, the cinderblock walls in the basement also cracked.

They just painted over it, and pretended the problems didn’t exist.

The workmanship was generally shoddy. Sorry ladies, but it was what one might expect from a crew of single moms who had never held a power tool in their hands before. Floors were not level. Corners were not square. There were gaps under the doors and around windows.

The only good thing I can say about it is that they did have some experienced people doing the plumbing, electrical and HVAC work.

A house like that can be lived in, but it takes a lot of work and money to make everything right: waterproofing the basement, and weatherstripping the doors and windows. This is not the sort of thing that the typical H4H family, headed by a single mom, would be able to contribute.

Also, there are a lot of impoverished white families in the area, but 100% of these homes went to black and Hispanic families.

Needless to say, our firm did not select H4H as designated charity for 2008 or 2009, and I doubt very much that we ever will again.

[beckysueb]

Exactly! The houses are built according to government standards which are pretty strict. My nephew oversees the construction of habitat houses. There are a lot of volunteers helping but they are given jobs like picking up nails, painting, etc. Nothing that would undermine the actual structure. The “sweat equity” means the new homeowner must put in so many hours helping to build the next one. I don’t know about everywhere else but in my town, they still have to pay for the house but they get it without labor costs and no interest, in other words, dirt cheap. But even in my small town, the last 3 habitat houses built, the new owners set up meth labs in them within a year and the houses had to be gutted and remodeled. Its the type of people they give the houses to, not sloppy construction.

[beckysueb]

Well then its not the fault of the builder if their house falls down.

[beckysueb]

Also, there are a lot of impoverished white families in the area, but 100% of these homes went to black and Hispanic families.

Exactly!

[tiki]

Around here you have to help raise the money and work alongside everyone else.

[PieterCasparzen]

back in the 90’s h4h was building houses in newark, nj.

it took months, years to build them because materials were stolen as fast as they were built.

why we would want to build houses when there are too many at this point is a good question.

can’t stop “helping” though, when you look so good doing it.