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KRISTEN MORALES
Jae Troy, who lives in Bogart in a home he built through Habitat for Humanity, organizes his schoolwork in his
living room. Troy recently started taking classes to learn architectural drawing, inspired by the work he did on
his home and others.
time, Habitat includes a buyback ctause in the
sate of the home; the organization gets to buy
back the property for the same price as what
the famity has put into it. "But after 25 years,
it's yours free and dear," he added. "You don't
have a tot of turnover in these properties
because these folks are so invested."
Another program run by the Athens
Housing Authority has helped bring new,
owner-occupied homes to areas that once
were run-down neighborhoods. AHA has built
22 single-family homes in the East Athens,
Hancock and Brooklyn neighborhoods, and
none have gone into foreclosure, according to
Marilyn Appleby, marketing and communica
tions director. Another development of 12
homes, Savannah Heights
in East Athens, has four
homeowners.
AHA's requirements
also include a combina
tion of credit counseling,
a minimum income and
a continued connection
with AHA after the sale,
Appleby says. "After pur
chase, homebuyers must attend post-purchase
counseling within the first year of purchas
ing the home," she says. "After the one-year
period, the AHA takes a less direct relation
ship with the buyer yet remains a resource if
there are questions or concerns."
With the AHA, home buyers get two mort
gages, one through a traditional tender for
at least $70,000 and another through federal
grants. The federal loan is repaid when the
home is sold.
Families on a New Path
Aside from the credit counseling and some
flexibility with payments???something not
available for mortgage holders through, say,
Bank of America???the low-income homeown
ers who enter these programs benefit from
an intangible aspect of owning a home: the
inherent successes that go along with housing
stability.
"This is the first generation, for many,
who even owned a home," Frye says. "Think
forward to how this will affect generations
to come for this famity. Creating a model of
homeownership, the children will do better on
their schoolwork, they wilt have less behav
ioral problems, they will be more likely to own
their own business and go to college. Those
are alt the traits of children of homeowners."
It's reflected in Troy's life, too. Even his
job, as program manager for the Athens
Habitat office, came up after he was fully
invested in the program as a potential home-
buyer. "It's independence, definitely indepen
dence," he says of owning a home. "And it's
an all-around good thing to own something,
especially as much as it's helped me out."
Troy says he never saw himself as a home
builder. But after volunteering with Habitat
and working on homes for months, he realized
he enjoyed swinging a hammer and teaching
others, too. Today, he's studying computer-
aided design to make his own house plans,
and he spends so much time at Habitat that it
turned into a full-time job.
The down economy has forced these orga
nizations to rethink how the programs are
structured, reacting to
both uncertain homebuy
ers and lenders. Recently,
sales have slowed because
potential buyers are
unsure about their job,
Appleby notes. And it's
been difficult finding
financing, Benham says.
"So, we're working on cre
ating new programs so we have more options,
and not just for our buyers," she says. "It's
kind of hard already for anyone to get a mort
gage, and it's just going to get harder, which
is a scary thought."
A drop in funding has also forced Habitat
to rethink how it defines the concept of
affordable housing, Frye says. "If you already
own your home and you can't afford to fix
your roof, then you need affordable hous
ing," he says. "So, we've branched out in
these other areas, where we can help people
with these other issues." Habitat now helps
remodel bathrooms and build wheelchair
ramps, and a new weatherization program
helps homeowners save on their utility bills???
something the local nonprofit ACTION Inc. has
been working toward as well.
Whether it's keeping people in their exist
ing homes or gathering an army of volunteers
to construct a new one, the idea that the
homeowners are part of a larger community is
what makes the programs a success.
"I think, sociologically, this type of afford
able housing model harkens back to the barn
raising days. It's community driven," Frye
says. "That has an effect on the homeowners,
as well as the community viewpoint of the-low
income homeowner... Just because somebody
doesn't make a bunch of money doesn't mean
they're lazy. It means they don't make a bunch
of money."
Kristen Morales
???Just because somebody
doesn???t make a bunch of
money doesn???t mean they???re
lazy. It means they don???t
make a bunch of money. ???
NEW YEAR, OLD FAVORITES
January is typically a slow month for
theater. Stage folk have the same holiday dis
tractions as the rest of us, and theater-goers
tend to hesitate a bit before going out into
the cold. January 2013, however, looks to be
an unusually rich month for live performance,
especially (with one notable exception this
month) of the family-friendly variety.
Speakeasy: The Oconee Youth Playhouse
presents its run of the 2002 musical
Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Oconee
County Civic Center Friday-Sunday, Jan. 11-13
and 18-20. Based on the 1967 film, the play
by Jeanine Tesori, Dick Scanlan and Richard
Morris follows a young woman of the Jazz Age
who moves to New York with the intention of
marrying for money. Caught up in the world of
flappers and gin joints, Millie soon runs into
trouble of the worst sort. The play has enjoyed
continuous popularity since its Broadway
debut, and OYP's production should please.
Showtimes for Friday and Saturday are at
7 p.m., and Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $16 for adults, $14 for seniors and
students, and $12 for
children 12 and under
at the door. Call 706-
769-2677 for more
information.
Decadence: While I
believe wholeheart
edly, and have stated
as much many times
in this column, in col
laboration between
the various arts com
munities in this town,
it also means having
more names to remem
ber and mention. I
left some people out
of my mention of
the first Insurrection
Ball last October, and
for that I apologize.
The second event,
Insurrection Ball
V2.0: Nuclear Winter,
will be brought to us
by the fetish perfor
mance group Sirens
of Sin and the DJ
collaborative BeatmatchedHearts. For those
who missed the first one, the Insurrection Ball
combines live performance, cabaret, ambient
art and dance mixes with a decidedly dark,
alternative and sexy perspective. Performers
will include the Sirens' Preya, DJs Incubus
and Lexus Luthor, and live synthwave by New
Army, along with shiny things from a number
of local artists. This is a grownup show with
grownup things happening, and guests are
encouraged to dress in their best fetish, goth,
club or evening wear and accessorize with a
very open mind.
Insurrection Ball V2.0 drops the bomb
Saturday, Jan. 12, at 9 p.m at Go Bar.
Admission is $5 at the door.
Master of His Domaine: This should be a two-
sentence blurb???"Jerry Seinfeld is playing
the Classic Center on Thursday the 24th.
Go."???but I've got newsprint to fill. Seinfeld,
for decades the standup comic's standup comic
and star of a TV show so popular it introduced
new words and phrases into the freaking
English language, is making a whistle-stop at
the Classic Center to do what he does best:
wry, observational comedy delivered with the
timing of a championship boxer. Seriously, the
man really is one of the best in the world at
what he does. Even if you prefer your subject
matter with a bit more edge (and I must admit
I do), a Seinfeld show is a tutorial in profes
sional standup. Definitely worth going if you
can get tickets. Showtime is 7 p.m. Tickets
are $60 and $75 and available at www.classic-
center.com.
Y Shotgun Wedding: The UGA Theatre will
kick off the new year with a perennial crowd-
pleaser, the 1960 musical The Fantasticks
by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones (not that
Tom Jones). Officially the longest-running
musical in theater history with a continuous
off-Broadway run of 42 years, the show turns
Romeo and Juliet on its head, being the story
of two fathers who stage a feud between their
families in order to get their son and daughter
together. This promises to be a great produc
tion for fans of musicals and is certain to sell
out.
The Fantasticks runs at the Seney-Stovall
Chapel Tuesday-Sunday, Feb. 5-10, at 8 p.m.,
with a 2:30 p.m matinee on Sunday, Feb. 10.
Tickets are $12 for the general public, $7
for students with ID, and can be ordered by
phone at 706-542-4400 or 888-289-8497 (toll
free), or purchased online at http://2012.pac.
uga.edu/Calendar.aspx.
And One for the Kiddies: The Classic Center
Theatre plays host to the touring company
of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the enor
mously successful Broadway version of the
animated film about a girl trapped in a castle
with an enormous man-dog and his coterie
of talking, singing household knick-knacks,
all bound by a curse that can only be broken
by the power of true love. This will be lavish,
high-end stuff and a great event for adults
and kids, half of whom will already know the
songs. The show is one night only, Friday, Feb.
8, at 8 p.m. Tickets run from $20 to $70 and
are available at www.classiccenter.com.
John G. Nettles
The UGA Theatre???s production of The Fantasticks runs at the Seney-Stovall
Chapel, Feb. 5-10.
JANUARY 9, 2013 ??? FLAGP0LE.COM 9