DuPage group will fix foreclosed house
Think of Habitat for Humanity, and you likely have a vision of a house being constructed from the ground up.
But perhaps as a painful sign of the times, the group will pour its efforts this weekend into fixing up a foreclosed house in Glendale Heights that has fallen into a state of disrepair.
And, in another twist on the typical Habitat project, the volunteer workers will be 100 bankers attending American Bankers Association's annual meeting in Chicago. They'll be headed Saturday to a two-story home on Drummond Avenue to fix up the foreclosed house that's been purchased by DuPage Habitat for Humanity. Once the house is repaired, it will be sold to a family participating in the Habitat program.
"We have never done an accelerated build like this before, so that exciting," said Sarah Brachle, DuPage Habitat's executive director.
Every year, American Bankers Association does a Habitat project in the different cities where its annual meetings are held. This year's gathering starts Sunday and runs through Wednesday in Chicago.
The bankers participating in Saturday's project will show up at the site about 7 a.m. They will be working in two shifts on projects ranging from putting up siding to installing drywall to landscaping.
The irony of bankers working to repair a foreclosed house isn't lost on ABA spokesman John Hall.
"Nobody benefits from a foreclosure - neither the borrower nor the lender," he said. "We do what we can to keep people in their homes. We're happy that we can help rehabilitate this house for someone else."
Hall will be among those donning hard hats and tool belts.
"I don't have a lot of experience with a hammer and a nail except inside my own house occasionally hanging a picture," Hall admits. "It's very fulfilling to build something you know is going to make lasting change."
Because it's unknown how handy the volunteers are, DuPage Habitat is shutting down its other construction projects for the day to focus on the this one. So there will be plenty of supervisors on hand to provide direction.
"I don't know if we could pull this off every weekend," Brachle said. "You have to prep a lot to make sure that 100 people can be kept busy."
The goal is to at least have all the exterior work completed by the end of the day. Unfortunately, the weather isn't expected to cooperate.
"I think our folks will be working through cold rain," Brachle said.
The three-bedroom house in Glendale Heights is one of seven homes DuPage Habitat is planning to rehabilitate in the next three years. While the group is best known for building new houses, Brachle said there is "a real community value" to restoring existing homes.
"If it's something that's bringing down the community, we can make it into something that is a community asset," she said.
DuPage Habitat hasn't yet selected the family that will buy the Glendale Heights house. Those who qualify for housing with Habitat pay a mortgage based on their earnings.