Nonprofit helps woman secure loan, build house

Inheriting a home is usually considered a good thing.

Not that Juanita Hawkins didn’t appreciate having her childhood home handed down to her, following her father’s death in 1998. But the place was falling apart.

The North Garden home had become run-down over the years, inside and out. It was an “eyesore,” Hawkins admitted.

She wanted to fix up the place, and actually replaced some flooring and upgraded the water system. But the dry-cleaner employee couldn’t afford to fix all that needed fixing. So she turned to the Albemarle Housing Improvement Program.

At the time, 1999, AHIP couldn’t help her; the house repairs exceeded funding limits.

So Hawkins and Petey, her now 12-year-old great Dane-pit bull mix, endured. She had grown used to the roof that was “caving in” and waking up to white puffs of breath on cold mornings.

But those days are behind Hawkins and Petey.

With help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Program and AHIP, Hawkins has a new home.

AHIP, established in 1976, focuses on stabilizing and expanding the stock of affordable housing in Albemarle and Charlottesville and helping the working poor repair or replace their residences.

Hawkins is a typical client, said Theresa Tapscott, AHIP’s executive director. Hawkins holds a job and is eligible for a loan, but she needed help getting one.

AHIP on average completes about 25 home rehabilitations and about 50 emergency repairs in the county annually, Tapscott said. The nonprofit expects to complete 15 projects in the city this fiscal year, which ends in July.

To qualify for AHIP’s help, applicants cannot earn more than 80 percent of the area’s median income. For a family of four here, that’s about $66,000.

Tapscott said most AHIP clients earn 30 percent to 40 percent of the median income. Many of them are elderly.

AHIP helped Hawkins secure a $100,000 long-term loan on the new home, and she said it’s more affordable than renting or buying another home would have been.

Volunteers — from Madison House, the Federal Executive Institute and Blue Ridge and Miller schools — razed Hawkins’ old home and built the new one. Her new place has hardwood floors and a vaulted ceiling, along with central heating and a woodstove.

During construction, Hawkins and Petey have been staying in a small camper on the property.

It’s been tough staying warm with only a portable propane heater, but Pete “helps me out on the heat,” Hawkins said with a laugh. Still, she had to get the dog a coat to keep him warm.

Although work remains to be done on the new home, Hawkins and Petey have moved in, spending their first night there Wednesday.

“Well, I didn’t want to get up” Thursday morning, she said. “And I had a hard time getting my dog out.”

Hawkins is grateful for the help from AHIP and the volunteers.

“Got to meet some really nice people,” she said. “It’s greatly appreciated.”