New Haven Independent

The affordable-housing group gathered Sunday to celebrate the completion of its 29th house in Newhallville, a three-story home at 18 Shepard St. soon to be owned by Tonya Sherman (pictured with her three kids).

The opening comes just a year and a half after a Habitat family fled from a home the group had built 526 Winchester Ave., across the street from the Taurus Café. The woman who lived there fled because her safety was threatened amid a battle to revoke the night club’s liquor license. Click here for a background story.

That home has remained unoccupied ever since the woman left, according to Bill Casey, the executive director of Habitat’s New Haven chapter. Casey said Habitat’s plans to build seven more homes near the Taurus remain “on hold.”

However, Casey said the group is continuing its commitment to the area.

“We haven’t abandoned Newhallville at all,” Casey said.

The three-bedroom home came thanks to a lot of hard work from a not-for-profit group named Madison Cares. The group started in 2003 with the same basic mission as Habitat — to stabilize neighborhoods by fostering homeownership at affordable, subsidized rates. Along with many area partners, Madison Cares raised $50,000 towards the home, and rounded up volunteers to build it. Volunteers put in “hundreds, if not thousands” of work hours into gutting and remodeling the home over the course of nine months.

Sherman got her hands dirty too, putting in 400 sweat-equity hours. She plans to move in on Sept. 22 with her three kids, Sharell, 15, DJ, 11, and Ni-yel, 2. She’ll get the home for $83,000 with the help of a 25-year, no-interest mortgage held by Habitat, according to Casey.

Sherman, who works at a daytime facility for adults with mental illnesses, will move across town from the Dwight/West River area, where she’s currently living with her mom. She’ll become a homeowner for the first time.

“I’m so excited,” she said.