The Morgan County Jubilee Habitat For Humanity Chapter will be dedicating it’s 24th home build in Jacksonville this Saturday. The group was founded in 1992. Erin Kleinlein, Vice President and Family Selection Chair for the chapter says that the group tries to do one build a year for a family in need in the community, but that its been difficult the last few years because of a lack of applications. “Our main mission is to spread the word that we exist and we are always accepting applications for new homeowners.”
Kleinlein says they get a lot of help from local volunteers and contractors. “We have a volunteer list of about 100 different people that have signed up throughout the years to continuously come to work on our home builds. A lot of the work that we have to do is very skill-specific so we call on the contractors in the area who are willing to donate things like concrete labor. We’ll buy the concrete if you come and pour it for us. We get discounts through Home Depot and RP Lumber are pretty great about donating things to us. We really are grateful for the help from our community partners.”
Kleinlein says that the City of Jacksonville helps with the selection of properties for builds or rehabs. “Some of the builds are on vacant properties that the city owns. Some are vacant but have back taxes owed, so we will pay off all or a portion of the taxes to the city so that way they turn the property over to us. Also, we have been very fortunate – a couple of our lots have been donated from family members to maybe it was a parent that lived there that passed away or someone just moving out of the area that they have donated their property to us. We are always on the look out for new lots to build on.”
Kleinlein says that potential applicants can go to the group’s Facebook page or website jubileehabitat.com and click on the apply option if they meet income guidelines for their family. Jacksonville School District employee Krista Reece and her two sons will be the recipient of the new home build on Saturday. Kleinlein says that the program isn’t a free hand out for families but a hand up. They create zero interest loans for the families due to the donated land and labor to build. The loans are spread out over a traditional 20-30 year mortgage term so that people can be permanent homeowners. The public is invited to the home dedication ceremony for Reece and her family at 10:30AM Saturday, January 25th at 728 West Lafayette Avenue.