Habitat for Humanity gives evicted family another shot (Family with 14 KIDS!)

Scranton Times-Tribune ^ | 12/17/2003 | Andrew M. Seder

[Born Conservative]

A family's second chance

By Andrew M. Seder

12/17/2003

Charles and Barbara Smith and 14 of their 18 children are moving back into their North Scranton home today, just in time for the holidays.

The Smith family was forced to leave the house after the city condemned it July 29 -- the first known Habitat for Humanity home in the country to be condemned.

On Tuesday, a team of city inspectors went through the house at 2517 N. Main Ave. and removed the "unfit for human habitation" label.

Mr. Smith says he regrets what happened because of "my neglect and lax supervision" and promises Habitat for Humanity things will be different this time.

Mr. Smith said he looks forward to spending Christmas back in his house. He's sorry Habitat was dragged through the mud.

"This was a hard lesson learned, but I've corrected the problem and it won't happen again," Mr. Smith said.

After the condemnation, Habitat for Humanity of Lackawanna County -- following the example of other area Habitat organization -- hired a family support counselor to assist the Smiths and other families.

Robin Decker immediately went to work interviewing the Smiths and educating them on budgeting, simple home maintenance and parenting skills.

"When I first met them, the kids would throw candy wrappers on the floor. That does not happen anymore. They know about discipline and responsibilities now," Ms. Decker said. "Things are different."

"They know that if this happens again we'll be out on the street," Mr. Smith said.

The Smiths and their children moved into the house three years ago. They have been staying with the couple's third oldest son since being evicted.

The home was condemned, according to city officials, because it had no heat, hot water or electricity. Inspectors also noted holes in walls, floors and ceilings; electrical circuitry problems, the lack of smoke detectors and other deficiencies.

Laura Gillette, the city's deputy director for permits, inspections and licensing, said it was mostly "unsanitary conditions that needed to be cleaned."

The Smith family, friends and volunteers from Habitat for Humanity worked to bring the house back into compliance.

"Habitat didn't spend one dime," said Robert "Ozzie" Quinn, executive director for the Lackawanna chapter of Habitat. He said donations and volunteers made the home livable again.

Mr. Smith said having 14 kids ages 3 to 14 under one roof would be a problem for anyone. But he acknowledged his lack of discipline made matters worse.

"If you have 14 kids at home and no place for them to play, I don't care who you are, you're going to have damage in your house," Mr. Smith said.

Mr. Smith said he will remain a stay-at-home father while his wife works as a housekeeping supervisor for a hotel in Dickson City. It's her paycheck that pays the bills, including the $115-a-month mortgage payment to Habitat.

Mr. Quinn said he's weary of people saying Habitat shouldn't have helped such a large family and shouldn't have stuck by them through the past four months.

"This is a crisis situation. We can't just turn our backs on them," Mr. Quinn said.

Mr. Smith said that by spending more than $4,000 of his own money to fix the house, his children's best holiday present will probably be getting to sleep in their own beds again.

"It's going to be a crappy Christmas for the kids, but we'll make the best of it," Mr. Smith said.

But Mr. Smith is thankful others have been so charitable.

Between volunteers, including those from local colleges, and donations from others, the Smiths said the repair work and materials and new appliances could have cost more than $10,000.

"I came here one day in October to do some work and there was a brand-new refrigerator and oven on the porch. I have no idea where they came from, but I thank whoever it was," Mr. Smith said.

[Lijahsbubbe]

The wife's checks pay the bills. Heat, electric and water shut off. Mr Smith is dead weight. He says he's learned, but he's still not going to work.

[annyokie]

With 18 kids, I'd say at least part of him works. ; )

[Lijahsbubbe]

Ba-dump-bump! LOL!

[cupcakes]

You are right they don't deserve it. There is no excuse with this many children and the father at home that this house could not be kept in immaculate condition. The older children could do everyday chores and the father could have made sure any damage done was repaired.

[LaraCroft]

He's a stay at home dad, She works, but they have a kid every year.

So she is working pregnant? Sigh.

People just suck.

[ReagansShinyHair]

The woman has 14 kids in 15 years and SHE has to go to work?

Maybe she wants to get away...

[Mold Victims]

6/14/04

We are writing to you today to tell you our experiences with Habitat for Humanity of Lackawanna County Pa . Unlike the family mentioned on your forum we are a HARD WORKING Family with THREE children and took good care of our home. Habitat for Humanity is not as compasionate as the newspaper article reads . Mr Quinn is doing his best to protect his image and keep this story from reaching the general public . Please read this story with an open mind as for we have documentation to back up our statements.

We need to tell you our story so that maybe this problem won’t happen to another innocent family like ours.
In 1993 we applied to Habitat for Humanity of Lackawanna County Pennsylvania so we could achieve our dream of owning our own home and providing our children with a safe and healthy environment to live in . We were so excited to receive notification that we were accepted because we were struggling to save for a home . Our three children Billy , Mathew and Cami had been all diagnosed with asthma and we found it difficult to save enough money to buy our own home. In 1995 Habitat for Humanity told us that they had located a property in our neighborhood that would fit the needs our family. The property was a two bedroom home that had been vacant and run down and needed plenty of work . We loved the location of the home because of the close proximity to our children’s school. We questioned Habitat about the extent of work that needed to be done to the house, , including the basement which had a dirt floor covered with stagnant water. We were assured that the house would be renovated ,inspected, and tested before we moved in . We felt confident that everything would be fine after we discussed the problems with the project manager.
In April 1996 we started to work on the house with members of Habitat and numerous volunteers . We were excited to see all of the work that was accomplished in just one day . Shortly after wards we hit a roadblock, the city put a stop to the project because no one filed the necessary permits to do any work. Weeks went by and there was no progress. Finally we got the o.k. to start again but this time there were no volunteers and there was no plan on how the project was to proceed.
We continued to work on the home many times with only one member of Habitat for Humanity around . We stopped keeping track of our Sweat Equity Hours after seven hundred hours. We felt like there would never be an end to the project . Finally after 12 months of work Habitat convinced us to take occupancy even though the house was not finished . Shelley did not want to move in because she felt that Habitat would never finish the house properly or sign it over to us. The house still needed plenty of work , which included rain gutters, a window in the laundry room , the basement door was’t in place and a retaining wall needed to be built to divert rain water from entering the basement. After many promises from Habitat to finish the house we agreed to move in .
Shortly after we moved in we started having problems with rain water flooding our basement. After many calls to Habitat from us and our physician they agreed to come over and look at the problem . They decided to install a sump pump in one corner of the basement to drain the water after it entered the house. We asked when the rain gutters would be in place and we were told that they decided not to install them because they would cause ice damage to the roof in the winter time, and they also said that they were illegal . We were also reminded that the cost of rehabbing our house was over budget and they were not sure when they would be able to purchase them . After a few more rainstorms and many phone calls Habitat agreed to have gutters installed only on one side of the house . When the gutter company installed the rain gutters they installed them on the wrong side of the house . So Habitat had no choice but to pay to have the other half installed . With no surprise to us, most of the water stopped coming into the basement . We decided to build the retaining wall in front of the basement door ourselves and replace the basement door so no more rainwater would enter the basement. Finally, we no longer had trouble with water in the basement , unfortunately we had to throw away many boxes with our belongings in the trash. We continued to finish the projects left behind while dealing with what seemed to be a sudden increase in illnesses with our young children.
In December 1996 while working on the house our oldest son Billy was rushed to the hospital with chest pains . The doctor told us he needed to be transported to a different hospital because he had a collapsed lung and was in danger of cardiac arrest. After many tests at Geisinger hospital in Danville, Pa we were told that he had strep throat and a sinus and ear infections that triggered his lung to collapse which included a pneumothorax. After months of medication and rest, he seemed to recover . Shortly after moving into our home we noticed our children were always sick and at the doctors with one infection after another. In 1998 our son Mathew needed to have his adnoids removed because he had continuous sinus and throat infections that were affecting his diabetes. After returning home he started to get sick again and was readmitted to the hospital because he slipped into Keto-Acidosis due to his illness and being an insulin dependent diabetic. He also took months to recover from the complications after the surgery. It seemed that we spent most of our time either at the doctors office or the pharmacy getting antibiotics for our children. Time went by and we figured that our family was having bad luck with our health and there was many families who had it worse so we should just deal with it as best as we could .
We continued to enjoy the fact that we were in our own home but we could not understand why we never received a Mortgage Agreement from Habitat but continued to make our monthly payments . After asking many times when we would be signing a mortgage agreement we were told that the lawyers for Habitat were getting around to it . We were told that their attorney works on a Pro-Bono level and that we would need to be patient. It later came to our knowledge that there was at least a half a dozen families waiting just as long as we were and still no mortgage agreement .
In October 2001after numerous illnesses and diagnoses our children’s pediatrician suggested that we have our house tested for environmental allergies and irritants . We didn’t feel that it was necessary but he insisted because of the continuous need for antibiotics and various medical problems since moving into the house. He felt it was not normal and he felt something was causing all of this trouble . We contacted Habitat for the testing because we still didn’t own the home and felt it was there responsibility. After much resistance they finally agree to limited testing due to the expense of the tests that needed to be performed . In November 2001 Habitat hired Coccardi and Associates to do minimal testing in a few spots in the house . They HEPA vacuumed and cleaned suspected spots in the attic and basement with a Clorox based cleanser . When the results from the tests were shown to us in Feb 2001 we were told that there was six different types of mold present and that the previous remediation process was sufficient in cleansing the affected areas. We accepted their explanation and believed what we were told . In April 2001 we read an article in the Sunday paper showing a family that had lost their home and health to exposure to Toxic Molds. We were shocked to see the names of the molds that were defined as Toxic in this families home because two of these mold were found in our home . Without further hesitation we immediately contacted Habitat for Humanity about what we had read and they agreed to have a second opinion by another environmental company . Shortly afterwards Habitat for Humanity hired Tech Clean Co to take more samples and after a few weeks the results came back from the lab. A rep from Tech Clean explain that they found even higher levels of mold present in the house . They said that our family was probably hyper- sensitive to the molds from living in a mold environment and that they would remediate the house with a peroxide based solution that would seal in the mold rather than trying to remove it .They said they would warranty their work but could not guarantee our children’s health. Our physician did not agree and suggested that we should vacate the house immediately . We left the house with only our children’s medicines and clothing .
Habitat agreed that we should leave and they offered to provide us with a hotel room to live while they worked out the details of removing the home and putting up a modular home . They agreed with our physician that the home was not safe to live in and it would need to be destroyed and rebuilt . Living in that house was no longer an option . After three weeks in a motel room we received a call from the manager of the motel that Habitat would no longer pay for our room and that we need to leave by Sunday. This only gave us two days to find a place to stay. Now we found ourselves with no place to live. Habitat requested to meet with us and presented us with two options. (1) Move back into the house after Tech -Clean remediates the house.(2) They will build a new house in a different neighborhood for us where they had block grant money in place to build more homes. Our physician didn’t agree with option one for obvious reasons and didn’t agree with option two because it is located in a commercial environment next to an active railway which would only add to their medical problems after living in a Toxic Mold environment. When we explained our doctors decision to them they said they had no other options for us and said to take it or leave it.
We emailed a letter to the Regional Manager for Habitat for Humanity Mr. Paul Hoffman explaining the problems that we were experiencing but he only responded to us by saying he would see what he could do. He spoke to the president of Habitat for Humanity of Lackawanna County and he requested that she should meet with us so we could find a resolution to our problem. We met with Sister Mary Persico and found out that she had no idea of the extent of the damages from Toxic Mold and the expenses that were involved in repairing the property . When she heard the details of the work that needed to be done she agreed that remediation wasn’t an option because of the expense. She explained to us that the money that was already spent on the house was way over budget. We feel that we are being penalized for Habitat’s poor judgment .
In September 2002 the executive director for Habitat for Humanity Mr. Ozzie Quinn requested for Shelley to meet him at the house because he needed yet another mold company (Datom Products ) to take samples of the house so he could file a claim with an insurance company. We come to find out later by a representative from Travelers Insurance that Mr. Quinn was submitting claims in our name without our consent. The last we heard Travelers Insurance Co was investigating insurance fraud against Habitat for Humanity. Datom Inc. opened a large portion of our sons bedroom wall and found black mold traveling up along the wall and suspected that it may be Stachybotrus - a extremely dangerous Toxic Mold . Afterwards our physician requested that we contact Habitat’s attorney Mrs. Melanie Naro requesting a copy of the test results from Datoms samples and she replied by saying “They would not give any information about the testing because what was in that house was irrelevant to our children’s health since we no longer lived there” . Shelley explained that our physician wanted them so that maybe there would be information that might help him resolve some of our children‘s medical problems .Ms Naro still said no. Shelley called Datom Products and asked if we could pay to have the home tested since Habitat would not let our physician see any results from the testing. We borrowed $3500.00 to finally find out what was in our home and after the test results came back we were shocked at what we were told . Not only was there Stochbotyrus in the wall it was also found in the air which indicates extremely high levels of Toxic Mold.
A few months later we received a call from Habitat requesting the house should be winterized . We assured them that it was because we requested for the utility companies to turn of all of the services in the summer. On January 28, 2003 we received a phone call from our neighbor telling us that a water pipe had burst and both of our basements were flooded. When Mr. Quinn found out about the water damage he accused both of us of forgetting to have the house winterized . We explained to him that we requested to have the water turned off months earlier and tried to show him the copy of our water bill stating that we requested to have the water service turned off but he continued to yell at us and walked away. We contacted the water company and they admitted that their technician failed to turn off the water and apologized for the error. The following day we receive a call from Mr. Quinn requesting that we returned the keys to the house that still had all of our belongings in it by 1:30 that day . We told him we would try our best because we were already on the way to the doctors office with our oldest son Billy because we was feeling ill . Mr. Quinn said if we didn’t show up they would have to break the locks to get in.
We made it to the house at exactly 1:15 but Habitat’s project manager Bill Musgrave had already broken in by busting the locks on the front door. When we asked him why he didn’t wait he said it didn’t matter the house didn’t belong to us anymore. Mr. Quinn ordered Mr. Muskgrave to padlock the doors and left us standing there with the keys in our hands. A few days later we received a registered letter from Mr. Quinn informing us we had two weeks to remove all of our belongings or they would dispose of them . When we explained to Mr. Quinn that T.J. Jimmie from Datom Products said our belongs were not safe to remove without proper steps being taken, Mr. Quinn said we had no choice but to comply to the letter or they would have to remove all of our belongings themselves and dispose of them as they seen fit. We were told by experts that the house and the belongings were contaminated and that no one should be in the house or to remove the belongings. True to his word Mr. Quinn hired a moving and storage company, exposing innocent people, to remove all of our furniture and all of other belongs as they seen fit. We could not believe an organization such as Habitat for Humanity could let things get so out of control like this . We were devastated to see everything we worked so hard to achieve being throw away and afraid that what may have been given away had exposed innocent people .
Through this whole ordeal we had contacted numerous attorneys only to get the same response, they felt bad for us and that we did have a case but they would not be able to help us . Many would not even review our case once they found out it was Habitat for Humanity that was involved in this matter.
We have taken our children to see a mold allergist in Bridgeport Connecticut and he explained to us that some of the damages to our immune systems and medical conditions caused from living in the home will be permanent and we will never recover completely .Our oldest son Billy has been diagnosed with an I.G.A. immunity deficiency and also suffers from neurological damage . He has suffered from gastro intestinal reflux disease ,irritable bowel syndrome and recurrent infections . Our son Mathew has dealt with numerous infections , gastro intestinal reflux , irritable bowel syndrome and also suffers from diabetes. Our daughter Cami has been diagnose with Fibro Myalgia and an elevated A.N.A level which can lead to Rheumatoid Arthritis or even Lupis . Cami is also a diabetic. As you can see we have had more than our share of medical problems since living in that house and we would never want to see anyone go through what our family has in the past few years . To add insult to injury Habitat has since sold the house to a private buyer and now we are afraid that the new owner is not fully aware of all of the problems that have been found with the house . We just cant imagine some other family suffering the way our family has .
We honestly believe in the great work that Habitat for Humanity International has accomplished and still believe in its mission of providing decent , affordable house to hard working families . Somehow our family has fallen through the cracks and has suffered great consequences for other peoples mistakes . We hope that you receive this letter and read it with an open mind and believe what we have told you. We have documentation on all of the facts that we have stated in this letter. We have learned to deal with all of our financial loses and we are still struggling with all of our health problems but we hope that by writing to you today we can help prevent another family from suffering the way our family has .
We would like to thank you for your time and understanding in this matter . We hope you can find a way to resolve this problem.

Sincerely ,
William and Shelley Wassel

[general_re]

In 1993 we applied to Habitat for Humanity of Lackawanna County Pennsylvania....

It creeps onto old threads during the night. Sort of like mold, actually.

Mold-stomped-my-kitten story borrowed from here....

[dighton]

Be on the lookout.