Lucia Audate, Khatisia Goode and their families officially became neighbors Saturday as the Greater Boston Habitat for Humanity turned over their new homes to them, a two-unit duplex on Bradeen Street in Roslindale.
The duplex is the first completed building in the Red Rose Condominium complex Habitat is building. The name comes from Fred and Rose Salvucci, who owned the site and were going to develop it into a for-profit rental complex when they decided to donate it to Habitat, building permits and all.
Construction started in the fall of 2011, according to Lark Palermo, president and CEO of Habitat Greater Boston, and finished recently. In order to get the house, Audate and Goode both had to contribute 300 hours either to its construction or to other Habitat projects, as part of what family services director Jennifer Kolodziej called “sweat equity.”
“We try to give families what we call a ‘hand-up,’ as opposed to a hand-out,” Kolodziej said.
“Lucia came here from Haiti with her husband back in ’95 and very sadly after they got here he died of a heart attack,” Palermo said. “She’s been raising the children by herself. What’s really remarkable about Lucia is she works the nightshift at the Shattuck Hospital, basically the 11 to 7 a.m. shift, and she does that so she can be available during the day for her kids. On top of that, she was finding time to get out here and build, which, as you might imagine, is a pretty tough thing to do.”
Audate applied to Habitat for Humanity when the porch in the apartment she was renting collapsed – with her son Jimmy Edouard on it. He wasn’t hurt, but she decided to look for safer housing. Goode lived with her family in Section 8 housing, a federal program subsidizing rent for those with low incomes. Section 8 is difficult to get into and for 18 years Audate had long looked forward to having a home of her own. Her son Raheem, who is in his early 20s, contributed to their sweat equity hours.
About 30 people came out in the heat and sun for the handover ceremony. Rev. William Joy, a priest at St. Angela’s Church in Mattapan where Audate is a parishioner, and Sister Nancy Braceland from Casserly House in Roslindale, presented Audate and Goode with Bibles and blessed the house.
Three members of the Boston City Council, John Connolly, Rob Consalvo and Matt O’Malley spoke, as did Jim Messenger, a partner in the law firm of LeClair Ryan, which contributed a large amount of money and labor to the construction.
The keys were presented by Jim Kirby, the chairman of the board of directors of the Greater Boston Habitat.
“If you look at the importance of this, it really is signified by everyone that is here,” Kirby said. “If you look at your programs and look at the corporations and individuals who have contributed to making this happen, it’s clear that it’s a common goal, it’s a societal goal, that housing is so incredibly important to what we do in this city and what we do in this nation. It’s security, it provides a safe place for children to be brought up. A safe place means a better place, it means a better education, a better chance of success.”
“Our mission is to help families,” Palermo said. “And the way we help them happens to be housing.”
“What makes this great is that you have such a strong community here in Roslindale,” Consalvo said. “We know that families are the strength of the City of Boston and the strength of our neighborhoods, so to have two new families that we can welcome to Roslindale to live in our community and be part the fabric of our community, only strengthens this great community of Roslindale and only makes the City of Boston that much more stronger.”
“It’s a great day because it’s all about strengthening a neighborhood,” Connolly said.
Consalvo’s district includes Roslindale and Connolly is an at-large councilor, but O’Malley was there because his father, George O’Malley, is the Habitat director of projects and was in charge of building the duplex.
“For many years I’ve finally grown accustomed to being confused for George O’Malley’s brother, as he looks so young, but now people refer to me as George O’Malley’s older brother,” Matt O’Malley said. “It’s a marvelous project. Not only is it good for the neighborhood, it’s good for the environment.”
George O’Malley said that the house was not LEED certified because it costs so much, but he did give a tour after the ceremony, where he pointed out many of the environmentally-friendly features. He said that the insulation they used was better than what the Boston building code requires and that thanks to energy efficient appliances, the heating is 97 percent efficient, which he said meant that for every dollar spent to heat the home, the family will only lose 3 cents worth.
“Habitat for Humanity Greater Boston, generally speaking, isn’t using government funds to do our projects,” Palermo said. “We actually look to the community and in particular to our corporate sponsors, but also individual sponsors.”
She said that she was contacted by a LeClair Ryan partner who worked with Habitat for Humanity in New Jersey about people from the Boston branch wanting to help in Boston. After the firm agreed to sponsor the construction with funds and employee volunteers, it was discovered that Goode, who has worked for Xerox for 10 years, was actually working out of the Xerox room at LeClair Ryan.
Kolodziej said that even though Audate and Goode have taken possession, their ownership isn’t a gift. They got a mortgage from Habitat that they will have to pay off, although it is without any interest and it’s smaller than one from a bank.
“This way they get to own their own home for what they were paying in rent,” Kolodziej said.