Habitat shifting focus to rehabs

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Last year, nearly 4,000 homes in Kent County became the subject of sheriff's sales, one of the last steps toward foreclosure.

By the time a home goes to a sheriff's sale, the owner has just six months to pay up, refinance or get out.

Two months into 2009, and that number is already over the 500 mark.

There is a ripple effect felt in the neighborhoods with empty homes.

"Even if you get one on one block, your property values start to go down," says the director of Habitat for Humanity in Grand Rapids , Pam Doty-Nation.

That is the overriding factor causing a change in direction for Habitat for Humanity. The group, known for building new homes for people willing to use sweat equity to make up for the lack of a down payment, will now concentrate on rehabs.

"We're focusing on trying to get foreclosed homes. And there's going to be some money coming in from the city and the state to this community to buy foreclosed homes and rehab them. So we want to be part of that," says Doty-Nation.

A home in the 1100 block of Sherman Street SE in Grand Rapids is among the group's first projects.

Crews from Grand Rapids Community College Construction Remodeling Program are rehabbing the house, estimated to be close to 80 years old.

The home was gutted. Mechanicals are being upgraded. Insulation is being installed.
Buy the time the crew is done, the home will be have a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certification.

Not only will the home be more environmentally friendly, it's providing job training for the construction industry, as Grand Rapids Community College students are part of the rehab effort.

"A lot of my students that have left and graduated meet with builders to interview for jobs, and that's what they're talking about," said Keith Ferguson, job-training assistant professor with Grand Rapids Community College's Construction Remodeling Program.

Habitat hopes to do up to 30 homes a year.

On the Net:

How a home becomes LEED certified