Greater Green Bay Habitat for Humanity is preparing to welcome 13 families to the new neighborhood of single family and townhouses on Green Bay's eastside. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — More than a dozen Green Bay-area families will soon be home.
Greater Green Bay Habitat for Humanity hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony Friday for Habitat Homestead, a new multi-home neighborhood development on the city’s east side.
It was a day of celebration as the nonprofit prepares to welcome 13 local families to Habitat Homestead.
Bishop David Ricken offered a blessing over the neighborhood, as well as individual homes, during Friday’s block party.
He said, “The gospel of Matthew 25 talks about shelter the homeless. Look here. Look at all of these beautiful homes. Not just any shelter, but homes that will make people proud and being able to get a brand new life.”
The 13-home neighborhood is the first large multi-home development for Habitat. It contains both single-family homes and townhouses.
Owners buy the homes from Habitat with a 0% interest rate mortgage.
“We feel like we’ve reached a point where we’re really starting to meet the need in the community for affordable housing, and this is proof of when a community comes together, what’s possible,” said Jessica Diederich, Greater Green Bay Habitat for Humanity CEO.
Habitat Homestead is truly a community project.
It was two years ago when Habitat broke ground on this first-of-its-kind development locally. More than 350 volunteers put in 6,500 hours of labor to make these houses homes for the families who will buy them.
Those homeowners were required to put in their own sweat equity, too.
The Homestead development is simply the icing on the cake for these homebuyers.
Future Homestead homeowner Angela Posenke said, “It’s so exciting. It feels like a little community. I feel like I have a neighbor. ‘Do you have a cup of sugar?’ And I’ve never had that, so I’m excited. Other kids, so my kids have friends to play with, and just seeing them run around, up and down the block, like we used to do. Just make memories and be a neighborhood.”
Those neighborhood experiences are expected to start soon, as the Homestead homeowners will begin closing on these houses within the next few weeks. Habitat says everyone should be home for the holidays.
Since 1987, Habitat for Humanity has constructed 153 homes in the Green Bay area, and it is committed to building 15 homes per year moving forward.
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