ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 9, 1997 TAG: 9702120007
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
To hear Fayth Graham tell it, Habitat for Humanity built her a house, drove her to drink, then evicted her.
By the account of Habitat officials, they evicted Graham in 1995 because she had fallen 10 months behind in payments, kept the house in deplorable condition, then snubbed their offers of help.
The one thing all agree upon is that the Buffalo, N.Y., Habitat experience of this divorced mother of five was an unhappy one.
Graham, 41, calls the four years she spent in her Habitat house the worst of her life. Just talking about it makes her weep.
``My life was fine until they got into it,'' she said. ``It's painful when I think about it because I put a lot of blood and sweat into that house.''
It started out well enough. To get into the house, she made a $300 down payment, completed 500 hours of ``sweat equity'' by working on her house and others, and began making payments of $200 a month.
But then the problems began.
A college graduate with degrees in business and nursing, Graham's job as a nurse to elderly patients became so stressful that she quit and began living on disability payments. She suffered from hypertension and depression and was in the emergency room every two months.
Graham said the further she fell behind in her rent, the more intrusive Habitat became. Local Habitat leader Jean Wood called her at all hours, made unsolicited visits, questioned her abilities as a mother and suggested she seek psychiatric counseling.
``They don't know how it was for my black children to have this white woman come say their mama ain't doing right,'' Graham said. ``They drove me to such a state that I actually started drinking.''
Wood said Habitat only wanted to help Graham by checking up on her and offering to take her to counseling. They questioned her abilities as a parent because she let the neighborhood kids use her house as a hangout.
Habitat agreed to lower her payment to $150 and took volunteers off another project to repair damage at Graham's house that Habitat said the youngsters caused.
Eventually, Graham disconnected her phone to avoid Habitat's calls and refused to come to the door when Wood visited.
By early 1995, Graham had found a new job, and her income-tax refund was enough to repay Habitat some of what she owed. But Habitat had already decided to go to court to evict her.
In September 1995, Graham's children came home from school to find the family's belongings strewn on the sidewalk. Most of their furniture had been stolen.
Graham now rents a three-bedroom house for $395 a month, almost double her Habitat payments. She can't afford a telephone. She buys her children used clothes from thrift stores and is replacing the furniture piece by piece when she has any extra cash.
Still, she is much happier. She hasn't made a trip to the emergency room since severing ties with Habitat.
``I am managing with less but getting along fine because the stress is not there anymore,'' she said.
As for Buffalo Habitat, Graham's case prompted its board to adopt a new policy: Homeowners who fall four months behind will be evicted immediately.
Graham might have avoided eviction, Wood said, ``if she had just been willing to receive the hand that was extended to her.''
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Fayth Graham and her family were evicted from theirby CNBhome, built by Habita for Humanity, in Buffalo, N.Y. color.