MATAWAN – A family will get the opportunity to own a home when Habitat for Humanity breaks ground for the first time in the borough.
“Right now we are only doing some engineering work and looking at what grading we are going to have to do, but this is exciting,” said John Yaecker, spokesman for Western Monmouth Habitat for Humanity.
Work on the project, which will be located on Broad Street near the intersection of Route 34, will begin in the fall, Yaecker said.
“Generally, what we do is find a partner family who meets our criteria and will be able to make the payments on the house first, and then we decide what we need to build to meet the family’s needs,” Yaecker explained. “Typically, we provide a three-bedroom, one-bathroom ranchstyle home to our partner families.”
Yaecker said that partner family households usually have between three and four family members.
According to Yaecker, the family must be able to purchase the home from Habitat for Humanity, which offers the sale with a zero percent interest-rate mortgage. To qualify, the partner families must currently be living in substandard housing and be willing to put sweat equity into the construction of the new home in order to be considered as the partner family.
“We do not have a partner family yet,” Yaecker said. “We will begin accepting applications in September … .”
Yaecker said families who receive homes through Habitat for Humanity must make 60 percent below the area median income in order to qualify.
“Typically, the people we work with in this area are making between $30,000 and $40,000 a year,” Yaecker explained. “This is our first build in Matawan, and we have a good track record of volunteers. There is a nice enthusiastic base of volunteers in Matawan.”
In order to keep costs down, volunteers build the homes free of charge.
“We have a nice mix of regulars who build with us,” Yaecker said. “For the most part, we have a lot of retirees who have life skills and the time to devote to projects. We also get professionals who donate their time and expertise, and that keeps professional costs down, too.”
Yaecker also said young people make up a significant portion of the volunteer pool for Western Monmouth Habitat for Humanity.
“We have a lot of enthusiastic young people getting involved,” he said. “There are college chapters such as up at Rutgers. But right here in Monmouth County, Colts Neck High School and Marlboro High School have very large and very active chapters. They are actually out at the site this week, weed whacking and cleaning up all of the brush.”
Yaecker also mentioned the First Presbyterian Church, which recently hosted the sixth annual weeklong Mission Matawan, during which volunteers help members of the community by making home repairs and doing yard work they are unable to do.
“We get some volunteers from the local churches, too,” he said.
As for the 5,000-square-foot property that will be the site of the Matawan project, Yaecker said that it was bought on the private market, and like any other builder, Habitat for Humanity has been going through the approval process in the borough.
“We have been getting building permits and we are subject to the same periodic on-site inspections as well,” Yaecker explained. “So far, I have had wonderful conversations with Mr. [Fred] Carr, the borough administrator, and hopefully we will be present at a council meeting to answer questions and let the community know we are here.”
Carr said the project is a worthy cause.
“Personally, I think any well-respected, proactive group like Habitat whose mission is to find people housing, is great,” he said. “As administrator, I will help them get their project going in any way I can.”
While Western Monmouth Habitat for Humanity may be new to the Bayshore area, Yaecker said the chapter has completed 24 builds in Monmouth County since the chapter’s inception in 1989.
“We like to accomplish two or three builds a year, but the cost of land has been an impediment,” he said. “Our last project, which was the E Street subdivision on Center Street in Freehold, was a success and the family moved in June 2007.”
Western Monmouth Habitat for Humanity is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, a nonprofit Christian ecumenical ministry dedicated to eliminating substandard housing. In cooperation with community volunteers, Western Monmouth Habitat for Humanity provides partner families the opportunity to purchase decent affordable housing.
As a result of the 24 projects completed over the past 19 years, Western Monmouth Habitat for Humanity has helped house families that comprise 39 adults and 51 children. As partner families repay their zero-percent mortgage loans to Western Monmouth Habitat for Humanity, the chapter recycles the funds into new projects.
Information about volunteer opportunities with Habitat and donations can be found at www.westmonhabitat.org or by calling (732) 308-3400 weekday mornings.