Habitat for Humanity teams with Walmart to rehab home on W. 81st Street in Detroit Shoreway neighborhood
by Chuck Hoven

(Plain Press, October 2009) A house at 2137 W. 81st Street in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood is undergoing a complete gut rehab and will soon become a new home for Moneeke Davis and her five children. Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity, along with sponsorship and volunteers from Walmart, and members of the Davis family are joining in an effort to transform the formerly rundown house.

Walmart associates and their families will contribute over 1500 hours of labor during the project. They began their efforts on the project on August 27. With the aid of these volunteers, the goal is to have the house ready for occupation by the end of October or early November said Walmart Marketing Manager Patrick Shanks.

Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization (DSCDO) donated the house to Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity. Matt Lasko, Director of Housing for DSCDO, says the organization has also provided Habitat for Humanity access to a Housing Trust Fund award of $120,000, which can be used for both the rehab of the Davis’ house as well as for the building of a new house on a vacant lot at 2095 W. 81st Street.

On Saturday September 17th the volunteers were out in full force, insulating the house. Moneeke Davis and two of her children, David and Davita were working along side other volunteers from Walmart and Habitat for Humanity, putting the exterior insulation in place. Davis said she was enjoying the work and felt it was good to see how the house was constructed.

Thomas Meyer, the local Construction Operations Director for Habitat for Humanity, said that Green Building Standards and achieving Energy Star Compliant certification were crucial to sustainability -- an important part of making a house affordable for a family.

The volunteers were placing Styrofoam insulation on top of the exterior wood siding. When finished, vinyl siding will be placed on top of the insulation. Meyer explained that the Dow (name of the donor – Dow Chemical) board on top of the exterior siding, moved the due point outside-- helping to keep moisture out of the house. Volunteers from a New Jersey church group removed the interior walls of the house down to the two-by-four framing of the house. Two-by-two boards were nailed to the framing to create six inches of wall cavity to allow for filling the cavity with six inches of dense cellulose insulation.

Meyer, a resident of the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood, who lives just around the block from the rehab project, says community meetings were held to sell the idea of placing Habitat for Humanity houses in the neighborhood. He said there are a good amount of homeowners in the neighborhood, and residents were supportive of creating a new energy efficient home out of a dilapidated rundown house. He said the Davis family would be moving into a healthy environment.

Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Jeffrey M. Bowen said that Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity enters into about 12 mortgages with families each year in Cleveland – most in the inner city. The mortgages are interest free, no profit mortgages. Habitat for Humanity of Greater Cleveland notes that it is the only homebuilding non-profit in Cuyahoga County that targets families who earn 30-50% of the area median income (approximately $18,500-$31,050) per year, based on income guidelines for a family of four. Bowen said families provide at least 500 hours of labor on the homes that they will move into.

Bowen noted that Habitat for Humanity was the largest provider of low income housing in the world and is the largest builder in New Orleans -- helping with the post hurricane reconstruction of the city. He compared Cleveland to New Orleans saying, “An economic hurricane hit the city of Cleveland in the mid 1990s and people are still drowning.”

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