April 28, 2005

Moya Shea is purchasing a house at 310 South High, which was constructed by Bruce Parker and Home, Inc.

By Diane Chiddister

People say it takes a village to raise a child, and a recent community effort proved that it can take a village to raise an affordable house.

Yellow Springers have an opportunity to celebrate that effort, and its results, this Sunday, May 1, when Home, Inc., will sponsor an open house for three of the group’s projects. The open house, which takes place from 1 to 5 p.m., will feature the almost-completed home of Moya Shea at the corner of Dayton and High Streets, the recently begun home of Peggy Barker at the same corner, and across the street at 321 South High, the recently expanded home of Kate Meinke.

About 40 volunteers chipped in many hours over the past several months to put up walls, lay down floors and raise the roof of Shea’s house, often on cold winter days, said Home, Inc., board member Al Schlueter, who coordinated the volunteer effort.

“People want to do something about affordable housing, and this is something they could do,” Schlueter said. “There was a real sense of camaraderie, a sense of people pulling together.”

Home, Inc., seeks to help Yellow Springs maintain its economic diversity and increase the population by providing homes for people who couldn’t afford to buy a home here otherwise, said Stan Bern-stein, the president of the organization’s board.

“We’re doing something the whole village can be proud of,” said Bernstein, adding that the efforts by Home, Inc., “add to the vibrancy of Yellow Springs.”

For Shea, whose struggle with illness the past few years limited her ability to work on the house, the help provided by volunteers not only left her with a new home but with a renewed sense of community.

“It’s a wonderful feeling of doing this with Home, Inc., a feeling of we’re all in this together,” she said. “It’s a team approach to creating a house.”

Last week, Shea was thrilled to show a visitor the result of that effort. “Isn’t this the cutest house you’ve ever seen?” she said.

Bruce Parker, who owns Azur Contracting, oversaw the construction of Shea’s house, which started in December. He designed the house, with input from Shea. In January about 20 volunteers showed up on a Saturday to put up the house’s walls, and on later workdays volunteers laid the bamboo floors and raised the roof.

Many of the volunteers are from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship’s social action committee, Schlueter said. Those who gave significant amounts of time include Hardy Ballantine, Dave Westneat, Tom LaMers, Cathy Phillips, Dick Robertson, Joan Chappelle, Tom Osborne, Lewis Sims, Bill Felker and Marianne MacQueen, the director of Home, Inc.

After the house’s structure was in place, Shea found herself confronted with many more design choices. Of immeasurable help, she said, was interior designer Kay Kendall, who volunteered to help Shea choose wall colors and other design issues and did much of the painting herself.

Shea said she is delighted with the results, especially the cheerful and vibrant yellow, orange and green walls.

A resident of Yellow Springs since 1974, Shea has owned homes in the village before. However, she had to retire early from her job with the U.S. Postal Service two years ago when she became ill. With her income cut in half, her only housing option seemed to be apartment living, she said, until she found that she might qualify for a Home, Inc., house. Now, she’s ready to move out of her small apartment into her new home.

As well as getting a new home, Shea has been learning lessons in life, she said.

“I have been learning how to be a grateful receiver,” she said. “Until now, I’ve been more comfortable being a giver.”

Working on the house has fulfilled a longtime goal of Parker, who said he has wanted for years to build an affordable home but didn’t have the opportunity to do so until he worked with Home, Inc.

“It’s not an easy thing to do with the housing market in Yellow Springs,” he said. “You’re going upstream, defying the market.”

Parker cut about $9,000 from the building project by using volunteers and supervising their work, according to Schlueter. Parker also worked with students from the Greene County Career Center, along with his sons, Lee and Ken. Parker said the experience was a good one, although he noted that he could do without all the paperwork involved in building an affordable home.

Parker also donated some materials as well as time in putting poplar trim around the windows and doors, an artistic touch that Shea said she appreciates.

Other local builders are also involved in Home, Inc.’s efforts. Tom Noftle oversaw the expansion of Meinke’s High Street house, and Jonathan Brown and Cathy Phillips of Phillips-Brown Homes are building Barker’s house.

Shea’s house is the first new dwelling completed by Home, Inc., which, since incorporating several years ago as a nonprofit corporation dedicated to providing affordable housing in Yellow Springs, has rehabbed two houses in town. Lindie Keaton now lives in the program’s first rehabbed home on High Street and Terri Wehrley-Pyles lives in another rehabbed home on West Center College Street.

In 2003 the group secured a predevelopment grant and several low-interest mortgages, and last year it secured a grant of almost $400,000 from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency to build 10 single-family affordable homes. It also received grants for technical consulting from the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing and the Institute for Community Economics. Grants from the Yellow Springs Community Foundation, the Antioch Company Foundation and the Ohio Community Development Corporation Association enabled the group to hire Keaton as a VISTA home buyer coordinator.

Home, Inc., has procured four low-interest mortgages from Fifth-Third Bank, and the group acquired four sites, including the High and Dayton sites, for new homes. The group also plans to start a six-unit development later this year.