CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio — The joy in the photos tells us a story.
Yvette Applewhite and her 12-year-old daughter were just handed the title to their very own home — after months of struggling with keeping a roof over their heads.. and food on the table.
“Sometimes I still pinch myself like when I get off from work. We’re going to a home - our own home. It’s still amazing after 20 months,” Applewhite said.
Applewhite graduated from the Laura’s Home Women's crisis center program that sets single moms and their children up for success, giving them a home at no cost.
“This changes the trajectory of her life, for her whole family, for generations,” said Linda Uveges, CEO of the City Mission & Laura’s Home. “We are interrupting the cycle of poverty.”
In the coming weeks, another rehabbed home will be ready for its new family — a mother with children ages 11, 7, and 8 months old, escaping a troubled life.
Mom will only be responsible for paying utilities as she goes through the program for the next 12 to 18 months.
When she’s done, the home’s title will be handed to her free and clear.
“No mortgage no nothing,” Uveges said. “But she’s worked hard to get here.”
In fact, a *lot of people work hard for them to get here.
This particular house is a partnership between Laura’s Home, Habitat for Humanity, and Land Bank Charities, the charitable arm of the Cuyahoga Land Bank.
Since the great recession, the Land Bank has rehabbed or demolished thousands of homes with one mission in mind.
“To stabilize neighborhoods, to remove blight, and to provide housing,” said Gus Frangos, president and general counsel of the Cuyahoga Land Bank.
They’re now putting an even greater focus on teaming up with several Northeast Ohio nonprofits to rehab vacant houses.
If it’s a home with good bones in a decent neighborhood, Frangos said renovation costs run between $70,000 to $100,000.
“We provide the home, we provide grants anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000, and the charity — through their own philanthropy and network — raises the rest of it,” Frangos said. “And that could be direct contributions or could be from the church electrician or Home Depot or the credit union.”
The people they are putting into these homes come from all walks of life, not just single mothers and their children.
They are victims of human trafficking, veterans, formerly incarcerated inmates, and those aging out of foster care. Some of the rehabbed homes are given at no cost, while others are used as safe and stable transitional housing. Frangos said more than 2,000 people have been helped since they began.
Owning your own home is the American dream.
And this type of teamwork just goes to show helping our neighbors in need is the American way.
