RISING LAND AND BUILDING COSTS HAVE UNDERMINED FAITH-BASED EFFORTS TO PROV

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Wed, Jun. 28, 2006
HOUSING
BREAKINGPOINT
RISING LAND AND BUILDING COSTS HAVE UNDERMINED FAITH-BASED EFFORTS TO PROVIDE AFFORDABLE HOUSING
BY ALEXANDRA ALTER
[email protected]

Soaring real estate prices, competition for land, shrinking grants for faith-based housing projects and the rising costs of construction have nearly crippled efforts by South Florida churches to boost home ownership among low-income residents.

''It's getting more difficult every day,'' said Luis Azan, executive director of the Nehemiah Project of Homestead Inc., a Mennonite church-affiliated group founded in 1992 to rebuild damaged homes after Hurricane Andrew.

``We're here to help with affordable housing, but we can't do it because of the high price of construction and land. It's getting pretty ugly.''

The Nehemiah Project, named after the Biblical figure who rebuilt Jerusalem in the fifth century B.C., has reconstructed 80 single-family homes in Florida City. By offsetting construction costs with government grants and free labor from church volunteers, the group was able to sell four-bedroom homes for $160,000 each, Azan said. Similar new homes in the area are selling for more than $400,000.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14916586.htm

[skids]

1. Yes, buying any land in South Florida at this point...

...is pretty much an excercise in "faith based" living.

[annabanana]

2. THIS is why there is a place for "big government"..

Faith-based initiatives are well intentioned, but can't, by their very nature, have the muscle & staying power required for large scale assistance.

[truthisfreedom]

3. bushco's ideas are all dead. all they have is hackneyed phrases, courtesy

of the porcine rove.

[ShockediSay]

4. things change ... nt