United Housing Partners With Grace-St. Luke’s Church To Develop First GraceBuilders House

United Housing, Inc. has partnered with Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal Church to create the first Grace-St. Luke’s GraceBuilders House. The church’s GraceBuilders volunteers will work with United Housing Construction Manager Mike Brunk to completely rehab a foreclosed house in Northwood Hills for a family in United Housing’s Homebuyer Education program. 

Grace-St. Luke’s Church donated $25,000 to the home renovation project, which United Housing matched with Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) funds obtained through the Federal HOME funds granted to Shelby County.

“We are honored to partner with Grace-St. Luke’s and CHDO, who have generously embraced this great project,” said Tim Bolding, Executive Director of United Housing. “We look forward to working with the GraceBuilders and other community partners to increase homeownership across West Tennessee.”

Over the course of five weekends beginning July 11, volunteers will perform tasks related to demolition, painting, blind installation, deck and fence construction and home landscaping. Volunteer sessions will take place on Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., as noted below. Anyone can sign up to volunteer for one or more days of work by emailing gracebuilders@gracestlukes.org.

·                July 11 and 12: Demolition

·                July 25 and 26: Landscaping

·                August 8 and 9: Construction

·                August 22 and 23: Painting

·                September 12 and 13: Clean-up

Following the renovation, United Housing will sell the house to one of its clients who have completed the organization’s Homebuyer Education program and are in need of assistance. Furthermore, Grace-St. Luke’s Church will purchase and donate appliances to the new homeowner during a special ceremony.

United Housing’s Homebuyer Education program encourages self-empowerment and self-sufficiency, as well as provides the tools for families to become financially stable. Clients who take part in the program must complete the course and one-on-one counseling before earning their Homeownership Diploma. This designation provides participants access to lower mortgage interest rates and down-payment assistance. 

For more on this project, read this feature article in The Commercial Appeal: http://bit.ly/1rbetbY