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Habitat for Humanity needs applicants for Nassau houses
You’d think hordes of Long Islanders would apply for an affordable home – but not so in the experience of Habitat for Humanity’s Nassau County affiliate.
Usually, about 20 families or fewer send their names for each home being built, and not all of them would qualify, nonprofit officials said.
“I expected to be wading through hundreds of responses and we’d get two or four,” said Tom Baccarella, director of operations at the Nassau Habitat.
The number of potential “sweat equity” homeowners was not a big concern when the organization completed one house every 12 to 18 months, but because of the housing crisis, the group is now getting more government funding to subsidize building and to rehab foreclosures into affordable homes.
In the past, the Nassau nonprofit’s small and part-time staff had problems getting land to build, but now they’ll be working on several projects. One home will be in Elmont and another in New Castle, Baccarella said. By the end of the year, the group expects to close deals on properties in Uniondale, Westbury and Spiney Hill, he said, and beyond that are Roosevelt and Hempstead properties.
“Now we have money and no families,” Baccarella said.
The group has gotten $58,000 in state grants to subsidize the cost of building two homes and that means the new homeowners won’t have to pay as much to buy the houses. It's also getting $150,000 under the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which funnels money to governments and nonprofits to buy and fix up foreclosures and blighted properties.
For a long time, Nassau Habitat officials said, they’ve been puzzled about the lack of applicants for past homes.
Manager Gail Scaramuzzo said a lot of callers ask for applications, but “I’ll send them an application and it does not come back.”
But also, Habitat’s Nassau group limits its outreach for applicants to the town or where the home is located or to the communities nearby. Officials said they don’t think a lot of people outside of town or area would want to move to other communities and local associations and officials ask that local renters get preference.
In the end, the group usually gets enough qualified applicants to consider for each home, said Kay McKiernan, chairwoman of the family selection committee in Nassau’s Habitat.
She said many applicants in past cases were rejected because they made too much money or too little to pay for the house and other costs of ownership, such as taxes and electric bills.
“People have the idea that when they call the Habitat office, it’s like a lottery and we’re just going to give them the house,” she said.
Under eligibility requirements, the income range depends on size of family, such as about $50,000 for a family of four. The new homeowner would be given an interest-free mortgage to pay off the cost of building the home, which could run about $170,000 for materials and hired labor.
For details or applications, call Habitat at 516-627-6047 or go to hfhnc.org.
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