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Immokalee's Jubilation nears 20-percent mark By LAURA LAYDEN About a year ago, Elizabeth DeLaRosa, a single mother, looked around for a house she could afford in Immokalee. She couldn't find anything under $90,000, and she couldn't swing that kind of mortgage payment. So, she turned to Habitat for Humanity, a, non-profit agency that solicits community donations and volunteers to build homes for families who otherwise might not be able to afford a home. She struck out again. "They had a waiting list, gosh I don't know how many years long," she said. "They said, 'You would be on a waiting list,' and they prioritized it by the larger families." DeLaRosa considered moving to Lehigh Acres, where land is less expensive and houses can be built cheaper. As a last-ditch effort, she applied for a house in a project called Jubilation, a non-profit venture undertaken by Dick and Florence Nogaj in Immokalee. Now, the 29-year-old is looking forward to moving into a new two-bedroom, two-bath "garden home" in Immokalee, where she grew up. "My daughter is eight years old, and this will be her first house," she said. "I've lived in Immokalee all my life and I've been renting for years, and the rents are just outrageous. I pay about $400 a month for a one bedroom apartment not including utilities." The Nogajs have undertaken an initiative they call Harvest for Humanity, and one of their goals is to develop decent and affordable housing and to eliminate substandard housing in Immokalee. Their Jubilation project spans 40 acres, and when completed will have 40 patio homes, 56 garden homes and nine custom-built, detached villas oil larger lots. Homes start at $69,500. Though models have yet to be built for the Jubilation project 20 houses have sold and Harvest for Humanity has received some 40 to 50 applications, many of which are still being processed. That's since sales began in March. Nogaj believes once the models are up, there will be even more interest in the project "You have certain people that buy on paper," he said. "The rest of the folks are touch-and?-eel people. When the models start going up it will make a big difference." Construction on the models should begin later this month, and they should be completed by October. Patio homes come in two designs. One is called the Sanctuary, the other the Haven. The Sanctuary homes are slightly larger, with more than 1,400 square feet of livable space. Both patio home models have three bedrooms and two baths and come with two-car garages. They have open front porches with interconnecting sidewalks. Garages are located in the rear, creating "living courts" that give residents the feel of an interior street. Patio homes range from $89,500 to $92,500. The garden homes, which start at $69,500, are attached, with two bedrooms and two baths and offer about 1,000 square feet of livable space. Each unit includes a private entrance on the ground floor. Eight garden homes are in a two-story building, and there will be seven buildings. The custom-built villas are likely to have 2,000 square feet of livable space. Most of the lots measure 85 by 125, and some of the homes may be two stories. The Nogajs plans to live in one of the custom homes, which will probably start in the $140,000s. "It's important for us to be a part ?of the community, and to stabilize it," Dick said. DeLaRosa actually works for Harvest for Humanity, the nonprofit group the Nogajs have set up to develop Jubilation. As the office administrator she has helped a handful of people like herself realize their dream of owning a new house. She spends a lot of time teaching applicants about credit reports, and how they can clean up their credit. DeLaRosa schedules appointments in the evenings and on weekends to make it easier for people to come in and find out what they need to do to qualify for a house. "People come in saying, 'What do I need? I don't have the slightest idea,'" DeLaRosa said. Purchasers have not only been cleaning up their credit, but selling off their expensive cars and trucks to help them qualify for mortgages, said Dick Nogaj, president of Harvest for Humanity. In the past, these folks have put their money into their vehicles because they had no hope of owning a home, he explained. Jubilation is attracting a mix of people, from retirees to young families. The Nogajs hoped the 10 families running their blueberry farm in Immokalee would be among residents in the new community, and a few of them have purchased homes. On the farm, workers are earning a "livable wage" of at least $8,50 an hour, Stephen Perez, who cares for the blueberry plants, said his pay is one of the reasons he and his girlfriend were able to purchase a house in Jubilation. Perez has been in Immokalee all his life, and he's mostly done farmwork. He says he's making more at the blueberry farm than he would working for other farms. "I'm getting better pay, and that really helped me out." Like DeLaRosa, Perez feared he would have to buy outside of Immokalee, and then commute to work. He didn't like the idea. "I'd rather continue living here in Immokalee," he said. "Here is where I work." Perez and his girlfriend, who have a five-year-old son, hunted for a house for a year before finding out about the Jubilation project. "What we were really looking for was a new house and we couldn't find any house in our budget range until I got to working for this farm, and they told us about the houses they were going to build." Perez said he is tired of throwing his money away on rent. "We wanted something we could own ourselves, something we could live in and we wouldn't be paying rent." The longtime Immokalee resident likes the amenities he will have at Jubilation, The development will have a pool, a covered playground, a gazebo, a blueberry store and an 11.5-acre scrub jay preserve that will be open for educational tours. The development will have its own homeowners association and neighborhood watch program. Social services will be available at the community center, including classes on home ownership and an after-school program, Nogaj describes the soon-to-be-built center as the heart and sole of Jubilation. "The Harvest activity center is the core of the community," he said. "It is very important." Nogaj hopes his project will be a model for other developers. "What we are trying to do is encourage the county government and other real estate and building groups to look at how they can replicate Jubilation elsewhere in the county," he said. "They'll want to make money, but there are ways this, can be done through tax credits that would be available to for-profit operations." |
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