Long-time community owner and award-winning industry professional, Marty Lavin, has said that many of the industry’s residents are “financially fragile.”
Alongside numerous others in the industry, Lavin’s not alone in his concerns for the economically vulnerable residents of manufactured homes.
There are also those outside of the MH Industry willing to lend a hand to the fiscally marginalized.
In the San Francisco Bay Area city of San Jose, the Habitat for Humanity East Bay & Silicon Valley is working to assist manufactured home residents with critical repairs.
According to ABC 7 News, of Tim and Valerie Jaggers, residents at the city’s Westwinds Mobile Home Park, are happy to have the help. Their home had fallen into disrepair due to their physical limitations.
Sixty volunteers from Habitat for Humanity are working to do various repairs at the community, made possible by the combination of a grant from the city of San Jose and a zero-interest loan from the organization.
“Volunteer teams are usually half women and half men, but today is the annual Women’s Leadership Build, an opportunity for employees to develop new skills, provide community service, and network,” said Habitat for Humanity East Bay & Silicon Valley executive director Janice Jensen.
For Tim and Valerie Jaggers, the help is significant, and insures that their manufactured home will remain in good condition for the foreseeable future. They’ve been in their home since 1983 and live on the combination of a small pension and Social Security.
Doing Good, All Over
As Daily Business News readers are aware, Habitat for Humanity has been helping residents throughout the country, including the Gloucester County, New Jersey branch, which has spent $2 million over the past decade acquiring property and rehabbing and building homes.
In 2015, the organization built its first modular home for a family of four. When a Habitat family applies for a home, they are required to put in 350 hours of sweat equity for the opportunity to purchase a home with no additional interest.
“This is our first venture into modular homes,” said Anthony Isabella, Executive Director of Gloucester County Habitat for Humanity.
“We work with volunteers 15 hours a week. Generally it takes us eight to 12 months to build a home. With this, we could actually have a finished home for a partner family in Gloucester County in three months, which is awesome.”
The added details on the story of efforts by the Gloucester County Habitat for Humanity, see the article linked here. ##
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