From Chris Tippens, Habitat for Humanity:
Habitat for Humanity Greensboro is working together with Community Housing Solutions and the City of Greensboro to address the current tornado recovery effort. All 3 organizations have met multiple times to create a plan that will help as many homeowners as possible, while also being responsible stewards of our resources. Renters and landlords will be assisted through other agencies.
Process for Providing Assistance:
Homeowners will apply for assistance through Community Housing Solutions, which has an established intake process for assessing need and collecting necessary homeowner documentation for critical home repairs. The applicants are screened to determine ownership, insurance coverage, and any grant funding received through FEMA, as well as other pertinent information. Once the screening is complete, the file is distributed to either Habitat, Community Housing Solutions, or the City based on the anticipated scope of repairs. The agency assigned will then contact the homeowner to create a detailed scope of repairs, and estimated cost. Said agency will then contract with the homeowner for repairs. Damage caused by the tornado, and any work necessary to facilitate the proper completion of those repairs will be covered by grant money with no cost to the homeowner. Other critical repairs not related to the tornado may be requested by the homeowner, but those repairs will use different funding sources, and be subject to repayment on a sliding scale based on homeowner ability to do so.
Information for Interested Work Teams:
As Habitat receives repair requests, we will need both skilled and unskilled volunteer teams to assign to these projects. Many of you have expressed interest in helping with these repairs, and I thank you for your willingness to do this. What I need from you now is a bit of information regarding your group, as listed below. Please email that information to me at ctippens@hhgg.org, or call me if you have questions about the process.
• Organization name
• Contact Name
• Contact Email
• Contact Phone (Mobile)
• Group Size
• Days of week available (weekdays, Saturday)
• Window of availability (anytime, July-October, July only, etc.)
• Minimum lead time needed to schedule
• Skills and specific expertise, if any
• Ability to self-supervise without supplementary Habitat construction staff
Generally, the repairs will include removing and installing new roofs, repairing/replacing windows, framing repair, and sheetrock/painting where needed. Trade skills (licensed electrical, plumbing, HVAC) will also be needed occasionally. If you have a skilled brick mason on your team, please let me know that too.
Our estimated average cost of repairs for a given home is $8,000 to $10,000, and my recommendation is that if you have funding which you would like to provide, you focus these efforts to either Community Housing Solutions or Habitat Greensboro (pick one). Remember to specify that you want the funding to be used only for tornado relief.
Thanks again for all you do, and your hearts to serve those affected by the tornado. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Chris Tippens
Volunteer Engagement Manager
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Greensboro
1031 Summit Ave., Suite 2W-2 │ Greensboro, NC 27405
Email: ctippens@hhgg.org
direct: 336.232.0127 │ cell: 336.707.8050 │ ReStore: 336.851.2929
habitatgreensboro.org |
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