Programs open door to home ownership

As one program scales back a plan to build in Union Academy, another one offers buyers help with an alternative.

By CANDACE RONDEAUX, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 2, 2003

[Times photos: Jim Damaske] Alberta Detreville stands on the port of her Union Academy home, purchased with help from Pinellas Habitat for Humanity.

Since last August, the 35-year-old part-time substitute teacher and UPS worker has shared a simple three-bedroom house on the street with her two children, and she has loved every minute of it.

"I'll stay here a long, long time," Detreville said.

She is one of two homeowners in the neighborhood who purchased a first home on the street with the help of Pinellas Habitat for Humanity, the local branch of the national home building volunteer organization. But there might be fewer Tarpon Springs residents as fortunate as Detreville in the future.

The nonprofit group is scaling back some of its plans to build affordable, low-income housing in Tarpon Springs.

Habitat for Humanity still plans to build a house a year in Tarpon Springs, but its local partnering committee said last week that it is canceling plans to build a 14-home subdivision near Mango Circle. Instead, it will sell the 3-acre vacant lot it planned to develop to the Tarpon Springs Housing Authority for a price that hasn't been set yet.

"In light of declining donations, the cost would be just prohibitive," said Ron Haddad, chairman of Pinellas Habitat's Tarpon Springs partnering committee. "It would have cost much more money than we could have actually raised."

The 14-unit subdivision would have cost about $1-million to build, Haddad said.

Habitat for Humanity has owned the land since former Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Hugh Culverhouse donated the property to the group in 1994, and had, until recently, planned to develop it.

Bill Cox, Joan Farrell-Cox and their dog Henry step down from the porch of their new home in Tarpon Springs, purchased through the city's affordable housing program.

But the group's volunteers said several factors would make it too expensive for them to develop the land.

One was the city's impact fees. The average cost of building a Habitat house in cities such as Clearwater and St. Petersburg, where impact fees are waived, is about $55,000 to $60,000. Because Tarpon Springs does not waive those fees, the cost of building a Habitat house there is about $65,000 to $70,000. Another factor was that the cost of clearing the land, putting down water lines and making other basic improvements would be too much of a strain on the nonprofit's budget, Haddad said.

Like Habitat for Humanity, the housing authority also plans to build homes on the 3-acre tract. But the housing authority has a different approach, and it is turning out a different product.

The housing authority has formed a partnership with a private builder, Joe Heidenreich. For more than a year, Heidenreich, housing authority director Pat Weber and Tarpon Springs police Officer Ed Hayden have worked together to revitalize Union Academy by offering homes to low-income families in the area. So far, the partnership has built four houses. Heidenreich and the housing authority would like to build 10 to 12 houses a year.

Though the sturdy, brightly painted residences are just a stone's throw from Detreville's three-bedroom Habitat house, the two couldn't be more different in price and scale.

While Habitat's average three-bedroom, one-bathroom, single-story home could cost as much as $70,000 in Tarpon Springs, people buying homes through Heidenreich's company, Neighborhood Homes of West Florida, could pay anywhere from $100,000 to $120,000 for a three-bedroom with two bathrooms.

In both cases, homeowners receive assistance and counseling to secure their first mortgage. But even Habitat's supporters acknowledge that Heidenreich's homes offer a lot more amenities.

"Joe's homes are much classier than ours," Haddad said.

At 1,251 square feet, Heidenreich's homes are slightly smaller than Habitat's. But unlike Habitat's houses, the homes include a dishwasher, microwave, garbage disposal and a one-car garage.

"Rather than give someone a house to live in, I make it a home," said Heidenreich, 53. "Everything that says 'community' I build into these houses."

Though the price of Heidenreich's homes may rise as high as $120,000, prospective buyers can qualify for county assistance to live in the houses if they make 120 percent of the median income in the area. A family of four that earns less than about $60,000 could qualify.

That's good news for Detreville. She said she was a little skeptical of the housing authority's plan to build dozens of more expensive homes in Union Academy when she first learned how much they cost. But she warmed to the idea when Haddad told her the homes would appreciate in value and would naturally help bring up the price on her own home if she ever decides to sell.

"I think it's good," Detreville said as she looked out her front door to her spacious front yard, "I think their bringing in the houses is help in changing the neighborhood. We need it."

-- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Candace Rondeaux can be reached at (727) 445-4182 or rondeaux@sptimes.com.

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