Making a house a home
- June 9, 2015
- / Carlton Proctor
- / economy
Every time the first of the month would roll around, Chastity Loveless would take a deep breath, look at her bank balance and hope she had enough to cover rent.
Until a few months ago Loveless and her three children were living in a three-bedroom apartment costing her $850 a month. Her utilities would run another $200 a month.
An employee at a local water company, her take-home pay, after taxes, was barely enough to cover her living expenses. Any unexpected expense quickly caused big problems.
"Some months it took all of my paycheck just to make rent," she said.
A year ago Loveless decided she did not to want to continue just getting by, with little left over for herself and her children.
She contacted Habitat for Humanity, got the names of Habitat homeowners and began looking over their homes.
During that time Loveless also volunteered to help build Habitat homes in the Pensacola area.
After being on a waiting list for several months, Loveless was approved for a Habitat home, and in April closed on the purchase.
In addition to the pride of owning her home, Loveless was thrilled to discover her monthly mortgage payment would be $300 less than her previous apartment rent.
“It’s been a life-changing event moving into my own home," she said. "It’s like a release, a new feeling of freedom. I was just overjoyed at the closing.
"I'm only 32 years old and to own a home at my age, it just feels unreal," she said.
Loveless' determined transition from renter to homeowner, along with the positive financial impact it’s having on her lifestyle, is success story that needs to be repeated over and over in this community, says Tim Evans, Habitat’s executive director.
The cost of affordable housing is a big problem, Evans said.
"I think there's a real lack of understanding on the part of the public on how the cost of housing affects not only low-income people, but also the economy itself," Evans said.
Summit aims to raise awareness
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WANT TO GO?
The Housing Summit takes place from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 9, at Gulf Power's headquarters on Bayfront Parkway.
The event is free and open to the public.
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That's why Habitat is sponsoring a one-day Housing Summit to raise awareness in the community of the need for affordable housing.
Evans said the summit will address the impact affordable housing has on the economy, along with ways the public and private sectors can work together to stimulate construction of more housing units.
Pensacola’s affordable housing landscape is not much different than most other cities in the Southeast, said Evans. There is a constant and growing need for more housing that is affordable and sustainable.
[caption id="attachment_24621" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Source: Habitat for Humanity Pensacola.[/caption]
The standard national model is that affordable housing should not cost more than 30 percent of household income.
To qualify for Habitat, a family of four can earn a maximum of $49,450 a year. In Escambia County, the median income is $43,918.
Based on that, the reality is that for many people in the Pensacola area, their monthly housing costs far exceed the 30 percent threshold.
Data in the Studer Community Institute’s Pensacola Metro Report indicates that 57.8 percent of people in Escambia spend more than 30 percent of their monthly income on rent.
Looking for “low-hanging fruit” for change
Housing costs’ effect on the local economy is illustrated perfectly by Loveless’ prior situation as a renter.
After paying rent, she had very little disposable income for entertainment, school clothes or other household items.
Now with her monthly mortgage payment lower than the rent she previously paid, she has another $300 in her pocket and more flexibility on how to spend it.
Evans said he views the Summit as a “good opportunity to begin a broad discussion on how the Pensacola community can become a sustainable place for all residents.
“In a healthy, growing community there needs to be available, affordable and accessible housing for all income levels.”
Evans said the summit, which features keynote speaker and University of West Florida economist Rick Harper, will address issues that can be addressed in the community.
Those issues include taking a hard look at city and county housing codes that limit the number of people who can share rental housing.
Evans also said changes to zoning codes that govern unit density could be an area to examine in order to maximize the number of residential units on a particular piece of property.
"We want to look at the local housing landscape and see if there is any low-hanging fruit that we can immediately address and that can happen right now," Evans said.
Source: Habitat for Humanity Pensacola.[/caption]
The standard national model is that affordable housing should not cost more than 30 percent of household income.
To qualify for Habitat, a family of four can earn a maximum of $49,450 a year. In Escambia County, the median income is $43,918.
Based on that, the reality is that for many people in the Pensacola area, their monthly housing costs far exceed the 30 percent threshold.
Data in the Studer Community Institute’s Pensacola Metro Report indicates that 57.8 percent of people in Escambia spend more than 30 percent of their monthly income on rent.
Looking for “low-hanging fruit” for change
Housing costs’ effect on the local economy is illustrated perfectly by Loveless’ prior situation as a renter.
After paying rent, she had very little disposable income for entertainment, school clothes or other household items.
Now with her monthly mortgage payment lower than the rent she previously paid, she has another $300 in her pocket and more flexibility on how to spend it.
Evans said he views the Summit as a “good opportunity to begin a broad discussion on how the Pensacola community can become a sustainable place for all residents.
“In a healthy, growing community there needs to be available, affordable and accessible housing for all income levels.”
Evans said the summit, which features keynote speaker and University of West Florida economist Rick Harper, will address issues that can be addressed in the community.
Those issues include taking a hard look at city and county housing codes that limit the number of people who can share rental housing.
Evans also said changes to zoning codes that govern unit density could be an area to examine in order to maximize the number of residential units on a particular piece of property.
"We want to look at the local housing landscape and see if there is any low-hanging fruit that we can immediately address and that can happen right now," Evans said.
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