Habitat Makes Easy Work Of Reusing Existing Homes

SEBRING - Habitat for Humanity has a new way to help the environment - recycling houses.
Instead of demolishing one of the houses on Magnolia Street slated to eventually become a parking lot for county offices, they moved the house to a new location a few blocks away.

"We took a house that was donated to us by the county to a piece of property donated to us by the city," said Jane Breylinger, executive director of Highlands County Habitat for Humanity. "It's was a good way for us all to work together."

Ken Melvin, who has worked in the demolition business for several years, said he inspected the house and knew it was in too good of condition to be demolished.

"The owner had just put a lot of money into rehabbing the house," Melvin said. "They recently put a new roof on it and everything was in really good shape."

Melvin said moving the house is a "green" option.

"It's much better for the environment because it doesn't go into a landfill," Melvin said. "You also don't need to make new materials."

Reusing the house also saves a lot on the cost of building materials and allows the family to move in sooner.

The move, which happened about 4 a.m. Wednesday, involved crossing the railroad tracks and navigating down several blocks, but Breylinger said they accomplished it without so much as nicking a tree. Next the house will be lowered onto a concrete foundation and work will begin.

Habitat for Humanity volunteers will add a bathroom and bedroom to the 730 square-foot house so that it complies with the city's ordinance for minimum square footage.

In addition to the house that was recently moved to the area, Habitat for Humanity owns two other vacant lots in the Washington Heights neighborhood, which is a target area for the group.

"We've been working with the people there and the city has donated us some vacant lots," Breylinger said. "We hope to get hold of more property in the area. I think with the city's commitment to the area and our help, we can really make improvements there. Staff has been dreaming about getting those people out of bad conditions and into something better."

Robert Saffold, a member of the Washington Heights Concerned Citizens Group, said housing in the neighborhood is one of the key issues for improvement.

"A lot of people acquire property through an inheritance, but they have no money to fix it up," he said.
Breylinger said the Washington Heights area offers a convenient, centralized location.

"It's close to schools, grocery stores, hospitals and even a park," Breylinger said. "That helps out families so much because they may have limits in their transportation costs."

Habitat Is Booming In Highlands County
In the last two weeks, Highlands County Habitat for Humanity has dedicated eight new homes, taking eight families out of substandard living and moving them into homes of their own.

From all corners of the county Habitat is building new homes, starting in Avon Park, where two homes were dedicated and three more are under construction. Moving on to Sebring, Habitat dedicated three homes and has seven more being built. In Lake Placid, Habitat dedicated two more homes and has four homes under construction.

Habitat for Humanity is one of the largest builders in the county, bringing in additional tax money, moving people into safer neighborhoods, where their children can play and not have to worry about drugs or physical abuse. Habitat is planning to build 25 new homes each year.