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A home for Nellis

A city grant helps a Largo woman, 67, build a new home where her run-down house used to stand.

By SHANNON TAN
Published June 23, 2005

LARGO - Nellis Branson burst into tears Wednesday when she was handed her new garage door opener.

"Oh Jesus, thank you for my home," she said.

As TV cameras filmed Branson, 67, she cut a sheet cake iced with yellow roses and a picture of her new 1,241-square-foot, three-bedroom home.

As her friends and neighbors enjoyed pieces of cake, they recalled how run-down her old house was. It was "falling down around her," said a close friend, Barbara Hopp, 68.

The 2-bedroom wooden home was built in 1926. It had termites. The ceiling was caving in. The carport leaked.

"The house, if inspected, would have been condemned," said Wayne Wanshek, Largo's housing construction specialist.

Branson's neighbor, Pete Palmieri, encouraged her to apply for the city's Housing Rehabilitation/Replacement program, which provides low-interest loans to homeowners to make improvements to their homes. When homes are beyond rehabilitation, the city uses funds from a state program to pay for demolishing the old home, temporary housing and moving costs.

Since the program started in 1999, it has helped 15 families replace their homes with new ones. To qualify, homeowners' gross family income must not exceed 120 percent of the federal median household income and they must be the owner-occupant of the property.

But Branson had title problems. She bought the house with her husband in 1973, but they had divorced and the deed was in both their names. The original homeowner who signed the deed had died. Branson, a retiree who lives on Social Security, couldn't afford to hire an attorney.

Gulf Coast Legal Services stepped in, along with a local law firm, providing some 60 hours of pro bono work. After nearly two years, the title to her house was cleared.

Branson helped pick out the color of the carpet and walls in her new $86,150 house. It was built on the 3rd Avenue NE property where her old home had stood. The city paid the $8,000 demolition costs, and the home was finished in six months.

Since her income is less than half of the area's median household income, she was able to take out a zero-percent-interest loan from the city, said Terry Buyers, housing finance specialist.

Branson has always dreamed of a nice house, a pool and a white picket fence. Now she has the house.

She will move into her new home this week with her three cats, Patches, Tiger and Marty. "I'm going to get lost in here," she said.

Shannon Tan can be reached at shtan@sptimes.com or 445-4174.

[Last modified June 23, 2005, 00:45:20]