Habitat set to award city town house

At the end of Bragg Lane in Manassas' Georgetown South community, on the small front lawn of a pleasant looking brick town house lays a "for sale" sign —most likely a victim of wind or negligence.

Next door, contractors are working inside another property for sale. There is no "for sale" sign across the street in Natasha McCuin's front yard, but she is anxious to move out of Manassas by the end of the summer after renting in the town house community for 13 years.

"I need something different," said the 26-year-old McCuin.

The picture is not pretty for this 44-year-old neighborhood of 860 town houses. Approximately 25 percent of the homes are now vacant, and "for sale" and bank-owned property signs dot the landscape.

Yet there are groups of people who are investing in the community, taking a chance in the harsh economic times that have ravaged Georgetown South and many other communities in Manassas and across the nation.

Habitat For Humanity recently purchased a town house at 9704 Bragg Lane. The modest brick and siding, two-floor town house, which sits across from McCuin's property, is scheduled to be awarded to a deserving and eligible family.

According to Habitat for Humanity executive director Traci DeGroat, there are 300 on the waiting list for the property. An ad hoc Family Selection Committee will evaluate applications, provide home visits and ultimately make a recommendation to the Board of Directors.

Before settlement, the individual selected must put a down payment of 1 percent on the house and perform at least 250 hours of house rehabilitation service (350 if more than one adult is moving in), including rehabbing their own property. The goal of the program is to have the individual or family moved in by the end of the year.

A candidate also has to be from Manassas, Manassas Park or Prince William County and must not earn more than 25 to 60 percent of the average Washington, D.C., area family income, according to U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development standards. Families of four at 50 percent of the average area income earn an estimated $47,250 a year.

DeGroat said the price for Habitat for Humanity to purchase an existing home a few years ago was anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 more expensive than building a home from scratch. And the price of the existing home, which was typically more than $200,000, wouldn't have included renovation costs.

That trend has reversed.

"In six years with Habitat, I have never been able to purchase an existing home for less than we can build one [until now]," DeGroat said. "... We are interested in staving off the foreclosure market, getting families that will be paying mortgages and tax dollars, which is a boon for local governments."

Georgetown South Board of Trustees member and resident of two years Kester Kilkenny was not aware of the Habitat for Humanity project, but said it sounds like a great idea.

"It [the vacancies] is a little discouraging," Kilkenny said. "We have made a lot of changes in the neighborhood, we have hired new staff and we are paying more attention to architectural guidelines and reinforcing those guidelines. We are trying to uplift the community as much as possible."

Kilkenny said a recent city study determined that roughly 20 to 25 percent of the community rents. That's something that he hopes will change when the economy improves and people see the hard work that the board had put in to making Georgetown South a livable and safe community.

But it may take awhile, conceded Kilkenny.

"Image is a huge deal," Kilkenny said. "We are trying to work on improving it. There's a stigma that's attached to there because of the high crime in the early to mid '90s and that's difficult to get removed."

To promote itself, Georgetown South will host an open house on April 12. Mortgage lenders, real estate agents and housing counselors will be on hand, and free home tours as well as free food and refreshments will be provided.

According to Board of Trustees president Hannah Senft, the open house is for potential buyers but also will serve as an educational tool on subjects like refinancing, avoiding foreclosures and buying a home responsibly.

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-369-5738.