November 4, 2022 – More homes in the City of Decatur will be rehabilitated thanks to an agreement between the City and Decatur Area Habitat for Humanity (DAH4H).
The Decatur City Council has approved up to $250,000 of American Rescue Plan (ARP) monies to be used by DAH4H to rehab vacant properties in Decatur to add higher-quality housing stock. The City will provide homes and funding and DAH4H will manage the rehabilitation.
“With Neighborhood Revitalization as one of our top priorities, this is a perfect partnership for the City of Decatur,” said Decatur Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe. “There are many homes in our neighborhoods that could be eligible for rehabilitation so we are excited to see where this program takes us.”
This program will be a community effort as DAH4H plans to involve DPS-61 high school trades students, Workforce Investment Solutions, Trades & Labor Council, and local contractors to complete this work. The houses will likely be used as classrooms for students and pre-apprenticeship program participants, providing hands-on experience as well as a new marketable skill.
While Habitat traditionally builds homes from the ground up, they are looking forward to adding rehabilitation to their programming.
“This is such a great opportunity for us because we have been wanting to get into rehabilitation work in addition to our new builds,” said DAH4H Executive Director Ed Smith. “Habitat can continue to get out in our community and provide more quality homes to families that really need it.”
The program is already underway, with Habitat starting with two houses: 802 W. Division St. and 1420 N. Huron St. Trades students have already visited the W. Division address and are beginning the clean out process.
Upon successful completion of a home rehab, DAH4H will seek out first-time home buyers for these houses, as they have been doing for 35 years. This program is similar to other community-City partnerships and runs parallel with other residential rehab programs using ARP funds.
