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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington, IA 52353
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Fairfield Habitat adds seventh home on North 12th
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
FAIRFIELD – North 12th Street is one of the hottest areas of development in Fairfield, thanks to a partnership between Greater Fairfield Area Habitat for Humanity and Iowa Prison Industries.
For the last few years, Fairfield Habitat has ordered prefabricated homes from Iowa Prison Industries in Newton through its program called Homes for Iowa, and the latest house rolled into town on Sept. 25. The house came to rest at 902 N. 12th, making it the seventh house Habitat has either built or installed on the street.
Fairfield Habitat Project Manager Jerry Leonard said the organization has four lots left to develop on North 12th, and it plans to fill all four of them. Habitat has been finishing about a house per year and sometimes two. In the coming year, Habitat will be finishing two homes, the newest addition that just arrived plus a rehabilitation of an existing home at 804 N. 12th St.
The owners of Habitat homes put in 200 hours of sweat equity per adult, which they can accrue either by working at the home or by working at Habitat ReStore on the west edge of town. Currently, no family has been selected for the home that arrived in September, though a family has been picked out for the other home under renovation.
Habitat previously relied on a team of volunteers to finish its homes, but now with the homes coming prefabricated, there’s less work to do. Leonard said there are still finishing touches such as the flooring and construction of decks, and Habitat never wants to turn volunteers away.
Those interested in volunteering with Greater Fairfield Area Habitat for Humanity can call the ReStore office at 641-209-9450, or by visiting its website fairfieldhabitat.org.
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
