New Haven Independent

The event Sunday was the formal groundbreaking for the latest effort of Greater New Haven’s Habitat for Humanity, the construction of houses for two New Haven families (pictured).

Shivering and stamping their feet to stay warm, dozens of supporters gathered in the empty lot at 71-75 Hallock St. to celebrate the construction project. After the speeches from funders and organizers and before the crowd started in on the juice and cookies, the shovels came out for what turned out to be an amusing and anticlimactic “groundbreaking.”

William, looking vaguely clerical as he addressed the crowd in his black notch-collared suit, said that for his family to have their own house was a dream come true. He was about to say more but, suddenly choked up with emotion, he simply said, “Thank you, just … thank you.”

The Morales family (pictured) is currently living in Fair Haven, on the second and third floors of a two-family house. William works in shipping at the C. Cowles Company; Sol is a school bus driver. They have four daughters and one son, who range in age from 10 to 20 years old. The family moved to New Haven from New York about five years ago.

While the Morales family applied and were approved by Habitat for Humanity to receive a home within the last year, Patty Walters has been waiting for almost five years to find the right site for her home. She was approved over four years ago and was offered sites at several locations, including on Rosette Street and in Newhallville. Walters turned them down. “They were in blighted neighborhoods,” she said yesterday, “There were drugs and shootings and gangs around.” Habitat for Humanity has had success and setbacks in these locations.

Right before she was offered the site on Hallock, Walters (pictured with son, Scott) was given some timely advice by her father, who Walters says sometimes has a sixth sense. “He feels things and sees things,” she said. Walters said that her dad said to her, “‘Next time something comes up, you take it!’”

Walters took it. And she’s happy with the Hallock Street location, which offers a short commute. She works at Yale University in a dean’s office and at the Yale New-Haven Hospital, as a business assistant in the surgical intensive care unit.

Although the frozen ground proved impenetrable to shoveling by hand, Habitat Executive Director Bill Casey said that an excavator would be brought in in the next couple of weeks to begin digging out the construction site. Casey said that the houses will each have three bedrooms and one and a half baths, with “a nice front porch.”

Casey (pictured) said that for families like the Moraleses, partnership with Habitat for Humanity represent the only path to home ownership. They’re working seven days a week, he explained, but they’re still not able to save the money to buy their own home. “This is their one shot at the American Dream of owning their own home,” Casey said.

As part of their agreement with Habitat for Humanity, the families are required to put in a total of 400 hours of volunteer work on their home. The Morales and Walter families will be given a 25-year mortgage at zero percent interest. Their monthly mortgage payment will be $300.

The houses are being built on what was once three properties. Habitat for Humanity bought the first one at a foreclosure auction and purchased the adjoining two properties from the city after it foreclosed on them. These two properties were purchased for $1,000 each.

The houses are built entirely by volunteer labor, except for work that requires a license, such as the electrical wiring. These two new houses, scheduled for completion by July, will be the 24th and 25th built in the Hill by Habitat for Humanity, which has been working in Newhallville and the Hill since 1986.

“Habitat Families” are selected based on condition and size of their current housing, their income, and their willingness to contribute to the construction of their new home. They must also have good credit, be first time home owners, and have a family that is the appropriate size for the proposed house.

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