THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 13, 1996 TAG: 9606110150
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 167 lines
LIKE LEARNING to walk again, homeless families are taking steps toward home ownership by getting a helping hand from the Ocean View community.
If all goes as planned, within the next few years, many of these families now struggling to survive will be working, living in their own homes, paying mortgages and making it on their own.
But they won't have to go it alone. Instead of merely providing shelter while families get their lives together, a program engineered by the Haven Family Center in partnership with a consortium of Episcopal churches will prepare them for the responsibilities of home ownership.
The final ``carrot'' will be purchasing a home of their own.
``This is really a cutting-edge program; we aren't aware of another one like it,'' said Thaler McCormick, who serves as director of the ECHO consortium. Created in January by nine churches within the Norfolk Convocation of Episcopal Churches, ECHO stands for the Episcopal Consortium for Home Ownership.
``Having the chance of home ownership is a flash of lighting, an incredible ray of hope for these people,'' McCormick said.
Organizers of the program say home ownership will be the final link in a four-step ``continuum of care'' established by the Ocean View community and the Haven center as a positive alternative to those out of work or down on their luck.
Church leaders, civic activists and others in Ocean View have been working for nearly eight years to find a long-term solution to the problem of homelessness in their neighborhood. The first step they took was in 1991, when they opened the doors of the Haven to provide short-term emergency shelter.
``It quickly became apparent that a long-term approach was needed to make any sort of impact to the problem,'' McCormick said.
So, in 1995, the Haven officially added the transitional ``leap program,'' in which families were able to extend their initial 30-day stay while getting their lives in order.
Now, with a budget of approximately $203,000 annually, the D View Avenue shelter houses some 38 people at a time. Most are single mothers with two or three children who stay an average of 2 1/2 months.
Cases requiring in-depth counseling are referred to other agencies.
``We turn away a lot of families, about three families a day,'' explained Elizabeth Brickhouse, the shelter's executive director.
The families who do find space begin to work at the center from their first day of arrival.
Part of the program, for example, involves earning vouchers that are applied toward necessity items purchased during their stay and toward rent they'll need in the future. Residents also receive financial and career guidance.
Until recently, however, many families had nowhere to go after exhausting their stay at the Haven and other local shelters. Even though many of these families are employed, they are unable to support themselves adequately or find affordable housing for their children. In some cases, they have few support systems other than those supplied by government agencies.
But in March, the first of eight families moved from the center into a renovated apartment complex on 7th Bay Street. Plans call for the remaining families to move in during June. Named ``Morgan's Place'' for Ernie Morgan, the late Ocean View community activist who also was a founder of the Haven, the ``supportive'' housing center will serve as a ``steppingstone'' for families working toward independent living and permanent housing.
``The people going to Morgan's Place are the ones really wanting to make a change in their lives and are willing to work at it,'' Brickhouse explained.
The apartment complex has been planned since 1992, when Life Savings Bank gave the property to the Haven. Money to renovate the property, however, was slow in coming. The center eventually secured $123,000 from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, and another $40,000 from a federal home loan program. The Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority contributed $13,500.
Community groups, like the congregation of Faith Wesleyan Church, also have agreed to maintain individual apartments by ``adopting'' them.
Many of the Morgan's Place residents admit they would have few options if left on their own after leaving the Haven.
``This is a blessing for me and my children,'' said Marilyn Baker, 33, who recently moved into an apartment after living for nine months at the Haven. ``I still can't afford regular rent.''
The mother of two young children, Baker left her husband in 1995 after years of abuse.
She said the rest of her family, including her father, turned their backs on her.
Alone and scared, she finally escaped her marriage and moved into an emergency shelter for battered women. But it was a temporary fix; the shelter allowed only a limited stay.
Then Baker heard about the Haven. Fortunately, there was an opening.
Now, less than a year later, Baker is getting her life in order. She works three jobs, has help with child care and has begun saving money to establish a house-cleaning business.
``If I hadn't gotten this apartment, I would have been leaning on the system a whole lot more than I've had to,'' she said. ``This apartment is wonderful. Now my goal is to own my own home for me and my children.''
She won't go into it blindly. Part of ECHO's program is to identify prospective homeowners and educate them about budgets, mortgages and maintenance.
``From the time they come to the Haven center, I'll have at least two years to work with these families . . . to prepare them for owning their own home,'' McCormick explained. ``Usually after four months, though, you get a real sense of who is ready for a program like this.''
Still on the drawing board, however, is the actual building of the ``rent-to-own'' single-family homes that will be made available to the families.
``By making it rent-to-own, we're building a safety net into the program for the families and the community,'' McCormick said. ``If things don't work out, (the property) will return to the Haven.''
With the estimated cost of construction at $50,000 each, the consortium still needs another $25,000 to build the first two homes. The initial $75,000 in funding came from federal home grants administered through the NRHA. Plans call for construction to begin on the first home, to be built on property at Seaview Avenue, in September.
In the meantime, ECHO has applied for federal and state grants and home loans to help finance additional houses and begin a program to build permanent supportive housing.
In addition to the single-family homes for families, the consortium aims to build supportive housing for the handicapped and the terminally ill.
Many advocates of the program maintain that transforming homeless families into independent homeowners not only will turn individual lives around but also will revive the neighborhood's vitality.
``This is not only a new beginning for these families; this is a new beginning for this neighborhood,'' said state Del. Thelma Drake, who lives in East Ocean View, just a few blocks from Morgan's Place. ``Instead of boarded-up foreclosures, we have a new home for the future of this neighborhood. This is a true success story.''
Grace Van Derveer, president of the Haven's board of directors, said:
``We're not wringing our hands over the problem of homelessness. We have volunteers who are making things happen.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
LONG-TERM SOLUTION
Staff photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA
Anita Stallings plays with her 3-month-old daughter Anna in their
room at the Haven Family Center.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Contributions to all three programs - the Haven Family Center,
Morgan's Place and the Episcopal Consortium for Home Ownership
(ECHO) - may be designated on United Way forms. The designation
number is 5081.
The Haven and Morgan's Place welcome contributions of money,
food, houseware supplies and household cleaners. Call 587-4202.
ECHO welcomes donations of land on which homes can be built, or
houses that can be renovated for the program. Building materials and
contributions of physical labor are also welcome. Contributions can
be mailed to the Haven Family Center, 131 D View Ave., Norfolk, VA,
23503.
Staff photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA
Two-year-old Antonio runs around as his mother Anita Stallings
kisses his sister Anna in their room at the Haven Family Center in
Ocean View.
Staff photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN
Volunteers line 7th Bay Street to observe the dedication of
``Morgan's Place.''
Staff photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA
Thaler McCormick of ECHO, left, and Dianne Joyner-Smith chat at the
Haven.
Staff photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA
A house on Seaview Avenue will make way for a ``rent-to-own'' home. by CNB