Building homes, building community
By Frank Bradley Sentinel writer

Sentinel photo by Frank Bradley Bill Lundy (L) a volunteer, helps Charles Lee Penland cut a board forMiranda Eller's new home in Warne. Eller and Cynthia Coffey, another homebuilder are both standing by with hammers to nail it to the wall.

On Saturdays and most evenings after her regular job ends, Miranda Eller can be found doing various jobs at home building site near Warne.

another job where she's been putting in at least 15 hours

week for several months, and

all volunteer. Miranda's payoff will come this August, when she and her son move into a brand spanking new house. One that she's helped build from the ground up. Miranda has had help from six other families who are also building houses, and she has helped them by working their houses. The families working together for their common good are not only building homes for them to live in - they are building a neighborhood.

"Working side by side with each other over the past several months, we've really gotten to know one another," Cynthia Coffey, a single mother with two school-age children, said.

The subdivision where this home building is going on is called Wesley Meadows. Theirs will be the first seven houses built there; however there are perhaps 15 to 20 more lots available, and the supervising agency, Hinton Center Self-help Housing, is currently taking applications for six more families who would like to get started building their own home this September.

Sentinel photo by Frank Bradley The project offers choices in interior layouts.

"It's really a great opportunity for young couples, single moms and even single individuals without children to purchase their own home," Charles Lee Penland, who oversees this project, along with USDA Rural Development, said. "When these homes are finished, these families will have anywhere from $40,000 to $50,000 equity in them. Equity they have

earned through their own

sweat working on their house. Also, they will have their homes financed with a low-cost loan (could be as low as 1% interest) which will keep their monthly mortgage payment within a range they can afford.

Penland said the criteria for applicants is "fairly liberal" meaning they have to show some stability in Clay, Cherokee or Graham counties

Sentinel photo by Frank Bradley Cynthia Coffey outside her soon-to-be new home.

nearby communities, which could even be in north Georgia. The applicants must have a regular job that they have held for the past year or so, or if they've changed jobs recently, they should show good reason for doing so, like getting a better paying one. There is also a credit background check; however, even if someone has a credit problem, there are counselors who will help them take measures to get it cleared up.

"Our group coordinator, David Feathers, has taken people with bad credit and worked with them to get their credit cleared up," Penland said.

Penland said the whole thrust of thisbuilding project is to help local people get into affordable housing. While the housing is for low-income families, Penland said there is some leeway. A family of four could have a combined income of up to $38,000 annually and still qualify.

I asked Miranda Eller if she had had any previous experience in carpentry and the like before she began working on these houses.

"I helped my dad do home improvements on their house," she said. "So I had some idea, but I hadn't done nothing to this extent. It's a learning process. We learn as we go, but our supervisors make sure we do it right. That we use the latest and best methods and that we do it safely."

Miranda said the hardest part of the project so far had been digging holes for the footings. She said they dug them out several times because it rained, and they filled up, and had to be redug.

Homeowners have some choices in the design and size of their homes. Most are three bedrooms with two baths; however there is a two-bedroom plan. Also, two or three of the houses have a full size basement. Owners get to choose the color of their vinyl siding, type of carpeting or flooring, cabinets and so forth. Of the seven houses, four of them were under a dry roof, two others had the flooring laid and there was still one in which no foundation had been set.

Penland said the work would shift to the three houses which were further behind, weather permitting. He said they hope to have all seven houses roofed and weathered in by Easter.

Having everybody working together is an essential ingredient of the project. And there is an incentive to do so, because no one can move in until all of the houses are completed.

Penland said the new home owners, who come from Andrews, Marble, Murphy and Hayesville were virtual strangers a year ago.

"Now they are like family. They've gotten really close," he said.

"This project has taken a couple months longer than we thought it would," Penland said. "But the cost is about what we figured it would be. The good part is that in June we will be getting Hinton volunteers in groups to help out and they will be coming in at just the right time."

I asked Penland if there had been any surprises.

"Well, I guess so," he said. "But it has been a really good surprise. I guess I've been surprised at how all these people have hung in there and helped each other. We were told before we started the project to expect some families to drop out or that they would not give it their full effort, but these families have all hung together and worked hard. They are creating a great community."

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