ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996             TAG: 9610310053
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: NORFOLK 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

SHE BUYS TROUBLE, GIVES IT TO HABITAT

DRUGGIES, PROSTITUTES: beware. A Norfolk woman has an effective way of dealing with your trade.

Tired of the drug dealing and prostitution at three nearby rental houses, Grace Haworth took matters into her own hands.

She bought the properties for $30,000. But she didn't stop there. She gave them to Habitat for Humanity to develop into homes for low-income home buyers.

One house already is being built, under the sponsorship of the mid-Atlantic regional office of USAA, a property and casualty insurance company. Since late September, 15 to 30 volunteers from USAA have worked there three days a week.

The three-bedroom house, which sold for $42,000, is expected to be finished by December. Habitat has developed 35 houses in South Hampton Roads, including 20 in Norfolk.

``It just helps everybody, and it sure helps me,'' Haworth said. ``I get back more than I give.''

Haworth started fretting over the corner properties about three years ago. The longtime owner had died, and the three rental houses were sold to another landlord.

She said she watched drug dealers sell from the trunk of a parked car and prostitutes offer themselves from the porches and street corner.

``Eventually the city boarded it up, but that didn't mean anything. Every night someone would tear the boards off,'' she said. ``It was a menace that nobody seemed to be able to control.''

Haworth, a retired medical-records director at a local hospital, said she bought the property in August 1995, after the landlord reduced the price. She gave it to Habitat the same day. The nonprofit group demolished the old buildings last December.

The only conditions were that Habitat use the property for low-income home buyers - not sell it for other development - and that most of the trees be saved. Haworth said she loves her neighborhood for its water oaks and pines.

LENGTH: Short :   46 lines