FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 24, 2001
CONTACT, Katie
O'Rourke
804-343-5520
katie.orourke@vhda.com
RICHMOND, VA - For the first time in its 28-year history, Virginia Housing Development Authority will build a home from the ground up. More than 100 of the authority’s employees have volunteered to help build the home in conjunction with Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity and the family that will become the homeowners.
The project initiated by VHDA’s Volunteer Team will take more than eight weeks and will produce a ranch house with four bedrooms and one and a half baths.
Susan Dewey, Executive Director of VHDA, said the authority vigorously supports this project because, “This Habitat project puts us in touch with the people we serve. Most of the work we do every day to make housing affordable for Virginians is accomplished by long hours in offices and meetings. Here our work takes on a physical commitment that is equally as dedicated and a part of our mission as our traditional jobs. This type of work allows us to actually see a home taking shape. We will be fortunate enough to be working right alongside a family to help meet their housing needs. What a great way to build homes and communities.”
Habitat homeowners are carefully selected. Applicants must meet guidelines for residency, ability to pay, willingness to partner and the need for shelter. Selected families contribute 350 "sweat-equity" hours on their homes or other Richmond Habitat projects.
VHDA volunteers will be building the house on behalf of the Tillery family. Mr. Tillery works in construction and his wife is a day care teacher. They have three children, two girls and a boy. The oldest girl is 14, the middle youngster is a boy, 13 and the youngest is a girl, 9.
Mr. Tillery said this home is “…a miracle come true. We had been trying to buy a home for more than three years, but nothing happened until we joined our present church. There we met someone who owned a Habitat home and she introduced us to someone who worked for Habitat and showed us how to apply for a home”. Hundreds of volunteers, including the Tillery family will be contributing their time and labor to the actual construction of the home.
The groundbreaking ceremony will take place on May 1, 2001 at 9:00 a.m. The Merriewood neighborhood is located just off Jefferson Davis Highway in Chesterfield County. (It is an empty lot and will be well marked for the media.) First Union Securities and VHDA are sponsoring the first of two of 27 Habitat homes planned for the neighborhood. The groundbreaking ceremony will include supporting words from Danny Ludeman, CEO of First Union Securities, Susan Dewey, Executive Director of VHDA, Phil Cunningham from the Chesterfield County Planning Department, and Eric Norman, Chairman of Richmond Habitat’s Board of Directors.
VHDA is a $7 billion self-supporting housing finance authority that operates without benefit of state funds. The Authority provides low-interest home loans and other home financing alternatives to Virginians seeking safe, decent, affordable housing.