Schools gamble for revenue share
August 16, 2011
Nancy Cherie McCollum
August 18, 2011
For the first time since Hurricane Katrina, Bayou Area Habitat for Humanity has opened the application process for any Lafourche or Terrebonne parish family in need of a better home.
The local affiliate of worldwide Habitat for Humanity will host an application orientation meeting Sunday for Lafourche and Terrebonne parish families who wish to apply for the housing program. Prospective applicants are required to attend.
The meeting will be held Aug. 14 at the Moses Community Center, 1130 Cardinal Drive, Thibodaux, from 3 to 6 p.m.
Local chapter officials are asking that applicants bring to the meeting a completed application and the required supporting documents, including three years of tax returns and photo identification.
Bayou Area Habitat anticipates on building 10 to 12 homes in this cycle, said Executive Director Andrea J. Clark.
“Right now, we’re accepting applications for anybody in need,” Clark said. “The money that we’re receiving now is back through grants and fundraisers that we did before Katrina. Right now, with this process, we’re going back to just serving Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.”
Following the 2005 storm, Bayou Area Habitat focused solely on hurricane-affected families and expanded its boundaries beyond Lafourche and Terrebonne.
“We’re back serving the people of Lafourche and Terrebonne,” Clark said. That is the reason we started, and those are the people that support us. There is still a need out there. We are administering, and that’s what we’re here for.”
Clark said she anticipates as many as 300 people to show up at the orientation meeting.
The application process will take between three and six months, according to Family Services Manager Michele E. Starks.
Habitat for Humanity does not give away homes. Families are required to make a down payment, pay a monthly mortgage and put in a substantial amount of time and labor in building the home.
Home prices are cheaper because the organization does not factor a profit into the equation.
“A lot of people get us mixed up,” Clark said. “They think we target low-income families. We target people who have needs and direct them into home ownership where they probably could not qualify through conventional financing.”
Founded in 1976, the worldwide organization has built more than 400,000 homes for more than 2 million people, according to its website.
Bayou Area Habitat began in 1996 and is one of 1,600 Habitat for Humanity affiliates. It has built 121 homes, Clark said.
Those interested in more information about the application process or opportunities to volunteer can contact the Bayou Area office at (985) 447-6999 or visit www.bayouhabitat.org.
