|
This fall, Yachad concludes its two-year partnership with the Inclusive Communities Fund, a project of the National Fair Housing Alliance. NFHA is a long-standing partner in our work to ensure racial and economic equity through successful home ownership. We are grateful for all their support and the work that they champion.
For many of our homeowners, buying their first home is only the first step in a longer journey of ownership. Unfortunately, many first-time home buying programs are not able to offer support after the initial purchase. Thanks to the Inclusive Communities Fund, Yachad was able to support first-time home purchasers in their journey as new and financially fragile homeowners.
Here are some of their stories:
"I want to thank Jennifer, Matthew and Audrey and the entire Yachad program for everything that they have done.Thanks to you all, my house is now a home again. I no longer feel like I’m sleeping outside in a tent. I can have guests over in my home and not be ashamed about the smell from the mold, or the roof leaking, or the holes in the wall, or the ceiling collapsing."
Ms. F. became a first-time homeowner in December 2017, when she bought her home in Southeast, DC as part of the District’s Housing Purchase Assistance Program. Built in 1958, Ms. F’s house was rebuilt in 2010 after a fire. When she purchased her house, Ms. F. believed it had been newly remodeled. But she learned a hard lesson 30 days later, when things started to break, leak, or otherwise need significant repair.
“Plumbing problems showed up first,” Ms. F. said. “Then the house needed a new HVAC system, a new hot water heater, and a new roof.” There were additional problems, too, throughout the house. The carpets in the master bedroom and in her daughter’s room were moldy, as were the plywood floors underneath. The electricity didn’t work in her daughter’s room, so the family ran an extension cord from a nearby bathroom to electrify the room. In the kitchen, the cabinets were moldy and falling apart; the floors were moldy, too, due to a dishwasher leak.
The city’s Department of Energy and Environment helped Ms. F. with a new HVAC system and with new appliances. While trying to assess how she could handle the other needed repairs, Ms. F. attended at community meeting where staff from Yachad described their home repair program. “I was very surprised to learn about Yachad,” Ms. F. explained. “It seemed like a miracle.” She applied and was accepted.
The professional contractors started in Ms. F.’s back yard, cleaning it out and making it level. Next came a new roof. The workers fixed a hole in her dining room floor, installed her dishwasher, redid a broken shower in her daughter’s room and installed new tile. There was more. The workers fixed the ceiling, floors and walls and painted in her daughter’s room. They took up the moldy carpet in her room, too, and installed new floors. Her basement received new steps, and all the holes and water damage due to the roof leak were repaired. Her daughter’s room finally got electricity.
“As things got fixed, I was laughing , I don’t have the type of money to put into the home. So I was extremely happy that I was able to get some professional assistance.”
Ms. E. also purchased her Southeast DC home in 2018, with financial support from the District’s HPAP program. At the time, the home, built in 2005, exhibited no major underlying repair issues. After two years, however, significant problems had begun to arise in the home, which she shares with her son.
“The HVAC system went out in the summer and I had no air conditioning, Ms. E. said. “I had to wait 7 months for repairs because I didn’t have the money to fix it.”
Like many of the other homeowners who eventually joined Yachad’s repair program, Ms. E.was introduced to the organization at a community meeting. “I went through the application process and was approved,” she said. Ms. E.’s repair issues ranged from moldy baseboards and carpet in the basement to leaks in the washing machine and kitchen sinks. The backdoor stairs were rotted, and the front railing had been damaged.
Yachad’s contractors pulled up the carpet in the basement and put down a hard wood floor. They repaired the leak in the kitchen sink. And they fixed the roof. “I’m not sure exactly what they did,” said Ms. E, “but the roof stopped leaking.”
She also had kind words for the Yachad staff, “They were very special,” Ms. E. said. “You’re going through a program and don’t know what to expect. Sometimes you feel like a burden, like you’re bothering them. Yachad was never like that.”
| 
