Highland Lakes Habitat for Humanity lays foundation for home ownership, new life
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — While some might see junk that needs to be moved and lots that need to be cleared, Greg Mills sees a house.
It just needs to be built.
Greg Mills, who is the president of the Highland Lakes Habitat for Humanity, already has four lots chosen on Avenue M in Marble Falls as the site for three homes.
The organization is finalizing the paperwork, but because of the summer heat, building won’t start until the fall, he said.
“Once we get the Ts crossed and the Is dotted, we’ll get (the lots) cleaned up,” he said. “There are old structures that are having to be removed. We have plenty of time.”
The Highland Lakes group has built 17 homes across the area since 1995. The last home they finished is in Cottonwood Shores and was completed in February.
Two factors determine where the organization will build a home: where there is an available lot and where a partner family wants to live.
And it is a partnership, Mills said, that requires families to participate in building homes and making monthly interest-free payments for 20 years. The first home that was built in 1995 is already paid off.
“I like it because it’s not a giveaway project,” he said. “It meets people’s needs. I can give you charts and graphs and stats that children who have a home do better in school and life. We’re not just giving people a house. There’s sweat equity. Payments are paid directly to Habitat. That money goes into a revolving fund. It’s a hand up, not a handout.”[box]TO VOLUNTEER
Highland Lakes Habitat for Humanity, a Christian organization, is seeking volunteers to help build affordable housing for those in need. Call Greg Mills at (830) 693-7879 or Bob Hunter (512) 755-5392.[/box]
Typically, building a home requires two to three crews that include three to five people in each with a crew leader and a house leader who oversees all the crews.
Each crew might be assigned an expert who’s responsible for a certain part of the house such as plumbing or electric.
And then there are other volunteers who help families learn the intricacies of owning a home, Mills said, such as realizing if there’s something that needs to be fixed then the homeowner has to address it. Many of the families have been renters and might not be used to that kind of responsibility, he said.
Mills said he is blessed to have many people, including members of the congregation he attends, volunteer.
“It’s pretty amazing and pretty awesome,” he said.
It takes between three to four months from the time Habitat starts building a home until a family moves in, Mills said.
But very few feelings compare to the emotion he gets when a home is finished.
“It’s really, really cool when you hand somebody the keys to a home, when you’ve worked side by side with them, when you have a wife or a girl hug your neck and tell you thank you,” he said with a soft smile. “It melts you down.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com