April 16, 2014 [Brittany Harris, Fox 8 News]
In just a few short months, a family in need will have their very own home in Cleveland.
It’s all thanks to the City Mission, Cuyahoga Landbank and Church On The Rise out of Westlake.
“The most significant crisis right now in dealing with homelessness is the lack of affordable housing,” said CEO Rich Trickel from the City Mission.
His organization, along with the others, teamed up to create New Horizons. The program is just starting out and will eventually select a family from Laura’s Home Women’s Crisis Center to live in a home bought by Church On The Rise.
“The first year it’s structured as a transitional living program where they are able to settle in and assume some of the obligations for caring for that home and running that home. After that first year, they can enter into an agreement with the local church to purchase that home from that church at a very affordable price,” said Trickel.
The house isn’t move-in ready just yet; there’s still a lot of work to be done. Pastor Paul Endrei said luckily, they have a lot of volunteers to help with that.
“We have about 10 pages of repairs that need to be accomplished in order to have people live in this home, but we`re excited to be able to be a participant,” he said.
He’s not the only one who’s excited — so is Michelle Mendez. She lives at Laura’s Home right now and, said she’d love to sign up for the program.
“I would love to have a home for me and my children, that’s one of my goals. We have goals here that we set and that’s one of my goals, to have a home,” she said.
To learn more about the New Horizons program, click here.