THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 25, 1994 TAG: 9408240210
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS
SOURCE: MIKE KNEPLER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
The city's redevelopment bureaucrats can push paper and direct bulldozers, but can they build a house?
Sure thing, says Dave Rice, executive director of the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
He and other redevelopment employees will prove it by volunteering to build a house for South Hampton Roads Habitat for Humanity this fall. It will be the first Habitat home in Ballentine Place.
``I thought that as the city's housing experts, this would be a good thing morale-wise,'' Rice said. ``We have people here who could design, build, do plumbing and electrical work. It will be a good activity for us to do as a team besides being fantastic public relations.''
Redevelopment employees can devote up to 16 hours of their regular work time to the Habitat house. But employees must agree to volunteer the same number of hours of their own time to the project.
Another goal is to pay for all the building materials - $33,000 worth - with contributions from the agency and its employees.
More than 260 of the agency's 375 employees have signed as volunteers and at least 235 have pledged money. The agency will match the cash with locally generated funds.
Rice, himself, will get into the act. ``Odd jobs at modest prices,'' he said of his hands-on expertise. ``I'll clean, rake, plant and garden.''
Until now, the redevelopment agency's involvement with Habitat has been to donate land in Park Place for several houses.
Habitat welcomes the agency's extra effort.
``It might be the first in the nation,'' said Sylvia Hallock, executive director of the Habitat chapter. ``We might have a partnership unlike any other. It's very forward thinking, very community-minded.''
``I hope they become an annual partner and I hope they set an example for other housing authorities.''
Secret of success. Appreciate what the South Hampton Roads Habitat chapter has achieved.
The chapter, created in 1988, will have produced 22 houses by year's end. Not bad for a region with a median household income of $30,871.
What's more, Norfolk is leading the way with the most Habitat houses - 14 - despite a median household income of $23,563, lowest in the five-city region.
Sylvia Hallock, executive director, said the key has been partnerships with other community groups, especially churches.
That means Habitat doesn't have to muster volunteers and donations by itself. Instead, money is raised house-by-house by each sponsoring organization, such as a church, a bank, a business, a Navy crew or a professional association.
``It's a real targeted approach as opposed to a shotgun approach. When they give a dollar, they know that dollar is going to that house,'' Hallock said. ``There's more immediate gratification. You see your house. You meet your family early in the project. It's one of the smartest moves our board ever made.''
A Habitat house costs $33,000 to build. Other contributions include at least $10,000 in volunteer labor and donated or discounted building material. Also, in Norfolk, the city's redevelopment authority contributes the land.
Groups that sponsor Habitat houses do not go unrewarded.
``I always ask the question, `What do you want from the project?' '' Hallock noted. ``They usually answer, `camaraderie' and `team-building spirit.' They want a project where they can work together as an organization.'' MEMO: Comment or suggestion for Mike Knepler: call 446-2275 or write The
Compass, P.O. Box 449, Norfolk, Va. 23501. by CNB