Haley Murray
Daily Egyptian
A circle of roughly 40 people, including Chancellor Walter Wendler and
Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole, formed under the blazing sun Wednesday
afternoon on a hot, dry lot to sprinkle water on the straw-like grass.
"This is holy ground," Father Joseph Brown said. "Let us remind
ourselves that what we do today has already grown from deep, deep
roots."
In what Father Brown called a "ground-blessing" ceremony, he asked the
participants to offer thanks to those who took part in a project that
will house 10 low-income families.
The ceremony honored the more than 20 private businesses, governmental
agencies, community groups and University organizations that have come
together to form the Carbondale Homeownership Project.
The project is geared toward building 10 single-family homes on North
Robert A. Stalls Avenue that will be affordable to low-income families.
"We are pre-selling these homes and offering them at market price -
$125,000 - and with various subsidies and grants that we've written
these homes will become available at $75,000," said Kevin Clark,
community development specialist with the Center for Rural Health and
Social Service Development.
Clark said the target payment for mortgage, insurance and taxes
combined is about $500 a month for a home that is roughly 1,300 square
feet.
"I can't say that you can find anything in Carbondale in terms of renting at that price," he said.
The project is part of the Community Outreach Partnership Center, a
national program that partners universities with local social service
agencies to focus on housing, economic development, health, education
and community revitalization. SIUC partnered with Attucks Community
Services, Inc. to provide outreach and assistance to the residents of
north Carbondale.
"This is a real opportunity for these individuals to start up their
nest egg and have that equity and have something long-term," Clark said.
Betty Turner, a field representative with the Center for Rural Heath
and Social Service Development, said the ceremony is the culmination of
eight years of work and three attempts to receive grant money from the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
"This has always been a goal of COPC's, and it's still a long road because now we have to get individuals ready," she said.
Turner said now that funding, support and property is in place, the
next step is finding individuals to pre-sell the land to who meet the
eligibility criteria, which includes a worthy credit-score to secure a
loan and a source of income.
"You don't want to get someone into a home and then have them not have the means for keeping it," Clark said.
Turner said people who don't qualify for this phase of the housing
development would receive credit counseling so that they may purchase a
home later.
"We want to work with individuals to help them get into these new homes
if possible. If not, we'll help them get into others," she said.
Wednesday's ceremony kicked off the whole process, Clark said.
"It gives us an opportunity to market our homes to the larger community
and get the pre-sells," he said. "We want to make sure this
successfully goes through, then purchase more land and start the
process again"
Reporter Haley Murray can be reached
haley_murray@dailyegyptian.com
