Habitats for Humanity : Two Families Look Forward to Moving Into Brand-New Homes

There are few familiar things left in the life of Rudy Mendoza. The last image the 27-year-old diabetic saw, three years ago, was a blood-red stain growing larger and larger in his right eye. He woke up blind the next morning and fumbled along in the strangeness that followed.

Then came the Northridge earthquake. It destroyed the old house where he lived with his mother, who is also blind. The house had a proud pedigree--a 19th-Century duplex that Mendoza’s father, a builder, methodically took apart, transported from Long Beach, and rebuilt at 1032 Griffith St. in San Fernando.

But in a startling change of fortune that Mendoza said he still doesn’t quite believe, he and his mother will move back to familiar ground next month--back to the same old plot on Griffith Street, into a new, two-bedroom house custom designed by students from Cal State Northridge and built by volunteers from Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that builds affordable housing.

“I can’t say how much my mother is looking forward to this,” said Mendoza, who lives with her in a San Fernando apartment. “She was so happy when she heard we were going back. For a few months after the quake, she was saying, ‘What are we going to do? We have the land, but we don’t have the money to build up a house.’ She wanted to go back.”

The Mendoza house is one of two that CSUN students designed and will help “blitz build”--construct within one week’s time--in San Fernando beginning June 17 during Habitat for Humanity’s annual Jimmy Carter Work Project. Surveying and rough grading of the site already has begun, and the foundation for the 1,100-square-foot house will be poured next week.

The other house to be built in San Fernando, a three-bedroom dwelling on Mott Street, will become the new home of Mariana Arias, 89, her daughter Ramona Duenas, 67, and Duenas’ mentally disabled daughter Blanca, 34.

“Blanca has the understanding of a 4-year-old, but she realizes she’ll be going back home,” said Maria Martinez, Blanca’s aunt. “She wakes up every day and makes a sandwich. She says she’s going to take it for lunch to help the Habitat people build her house.”

Martinez said her mother, Mariana, sometimes forgets that her old house, where she lived for more than 30 years, has been demolished. She asks when she will be able to return. Now, Martinez tells her, “Soon, mother.”

Though Habitat for Humanity’s San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valleys branch has built other homes in the Valley, including eight townhouses in Pacoima, the two houses in San Fernando are the first to utilize the designs of CSUN students.

“My students are not going to be architects, they are going to be interior designers,” said Ildiko Choy, CSUN instructor of advanced interior design. “So this has been a particular challenge--for them to understand building technique. This is the first time they’ve actually designed two houses. And they are going to help build them. They are part of something that is actually happening--real clients with real needs and real questions to answer.”

Tina Reicharz, 20, of West Hills, won a class competition for design of the two-bedroom house that will become the Mendozas’ home. She followed guidelines set by Habitat and the city of San Fernando and visited the Braille Institute in Los Angeles to learn how blind people live. The floors will be of different textures to remind the Mendozas whether they’re in a living room or hallway. Extra large bookcases will hold bulky Braille books.

Alma Gonzalez, 27, of Burbank, Sam Ahn, 27 and Somkid Phosri, 26, both of North Hills, helped develop the winning design for the 1,300-square-foot, three-bedroom house that will be built on Mott Street for the Arias family.

Other students drew blue prints, profiles and renderings of the houses, and presented the plans to San Fernando City Council, which approved plans and waived permit application fees.

Habitat’s goal is to build houses with a minimum of expense, using as much volunteer labor and as many donated materials as possible. Habitat officials place the estimated cost of building the Mendoza home at about $59,000, offset by the family’s federal disaster assistance and donated materials. Arias’ three-bedroom will cost between about $68,000 to build, offset by grants and donations. The families may be asked to repay extra costs through a no-interest loan from Habitat.

As for Rudy Mendoza, his impending homecoming, and the depth of community involvement that is making it possible, has humbled but invigorated him.

“When this happened to me, I wasn’t sure what I was up against,” he said of his blindness. “I felt like I was in a funeral box. But now that house is going to be built, I’m trying to learn the cane, trying to get better. Starting over, it’s kind of a big shock. It’s better now.”