WATTS : Group, Church Help Couple Build Home

Angel and Calvin Lowery wanted to move because they feared for the safety of their three children, but they could not afford much beyond their government-subsidized apartment on West 107th Street.

But that changed after the Lowerys contacted Habitat for Humanity. Now the couple and their children, ages 6, 8, and 11, are preparing to move into a new three-bedroom home they helped build with the nonprofit organization, as well as the Bel-Air Presbyterian Church on Mulholland Drive and Watts Homes, a residential development company.

The Lowerys are scheduled to move into the house in about a week after landscaping and a few remaining touch-ups are completed. But the family is already celebrating their new home. “The kids already know which room is going to be theirs,” Calvin Lowery said.

While it is the Lowerys’ first home, the house in the 11100 block of Watts Avenue is the third that Habitat for Humanity has completed locally since the Los Angeles chapter was formed in 1991.

Officials of the Los Angeles affiliate of Atlanta-based Habitat for Humanity International said completion of this latest house, which took about 10 weeks, was timed to mark the anniversary of last spring’s civil unrest.

The $45,000 house is on a $30,000 lot that was donated by the County of Los Angeles, according to Joanne Liebeler, a Habitat for Humanity spokeswoman.

She said that by seeking donations and recruiting volunteers, Habitat for Humanity is able to sell homes to families for about what it cost to build the house.

Habitat for Humanity and church put up about $45,000 for labor and materials. The Lowerys will pay $55,000 to Habitat for Humanity interest-free over 20 years, with the extra $10,000 going to build future homes.

The Lowerys were also required to invest 500 hours to help build their home--”sweat equity,” as Habitat for Humanity terms it.

Calvin Lowery was limited in the work he could do because he is still recovering from leg injuries he suffered in a 1992 drive-by shooting. To do his part, he helped with security while the home was being built.

Meanwhile, Angel Lowery painted the pale-yellow house, swept and helped clean up debris.

“I didn’t think we would get it (the home),” she said. “I wanted to get away from the other place. We’d had so much bad luck there.”

The Bel-Air Presbyterian Church donated $17,500 from one of its charitable funds and asked members, including Juan Aceytuno, the architect who designed the house, to help build it.

Mary Erickson, director of Bel-Air Presbyterian’s urban ministry program, said that for the church, the goal of the program extended beyond simply building a home.

“It’s more about how indifference is partly to blame for the riots and we must take some of the blame for being indifferent. This is about more than just building a house,” she said.

She added that the project offered “an opportunity for some of our members who live in Sherman Oaks to get into a part of town and meet some of the people that they normally wouldn’t have a chance to meet.” The church’s congregation comes primarily from the San Fernando Valley, Bel-Air and Brentwood.

For the Lowerys, their new home is a dream come true. “And our rent money goes toward helping the next family build their home,” Calvin Lowery said.