Local News

Wake Habitat To Build 20 Homes In Five Days

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RALEIGH — Habitat Wake will host its third Builders Blitz during the first week of June 2006, raising an additional 20 builder-built homes in Wake County in a mere five days. In addition, more than 1,000 homebuilders all over the country will be building more than 500 houses as part of a national Home Builders Blitz.

"The blitz-build model, founded right here in Wake County, has become a national model for builder involvement with Habitat," said Woody Yates, Habitat Wake's executive director. "More than 500 low-income families all across the country will soon have a permanent place to call home."

The Wake County families have been carefully screened by the Wake Habitat staff and approved by the Habitat board. Each family is working on its 250 hours of "sweat equity" by helping build other Habitat homes that are currently under construction. They are also attending homeownership classes, learning how to maintain their home, and saving up for their down payments.

Site development at the Dowling Ridge subdivision, just off Poole Road near the beltline, has been under way for about nine months and is on schedule for the June 5 start. Prior to that time, footings and foundations will be installed with assistance from The General Contracting Association of Raleigh.

Framing will begin at 6 a.m. Monday, June 5, and building will conclude on Friday, June 9, if all goes according to plan. A dedication and celebration dinner is planned for Saturday afternoon, June 10.

The Dowling Ridge neighborhood will eventually include 86 homes, 36 of which will be homes for Habitat homeowners.

The 27 participating builders' goal is to cover most of the costs associated with the Blitz through in-kind donations of labor and materials. In addition to in-kind support, other local homebuilders, realtors, bankers,and individuals have been invited to participate as event sponsors to help defray land, site development, and overall event staging costs.

Major sponsor partners that have made commitments to the 2006 Home Builders Blitz in Wake County to date include: the City of Raleigh, STOCK Building Supply, Mountain States Contractors LLC, HBA of Raleigh-Wake County, Builders Mutual, and Thomas Gipson Homes, Inc.

A total of 33 homes will be built in the Triangle Region as part of this project, 20 in Raleigh and the balance in Orange, Durham, and Chatham counties. This is the single largest concentration of Builders Blitz homes in the national Home Builders Blitz.

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