BREA : Habitat for Humanity Workers Get a Move On

Volunteers for Habitat for Humanity, the national organization that builds low-cost homes for the poor, have begun work on three single-family bungalows in Brea.

Nearly 300 volunteers, along with members of the three families who will benefit from the program, laid the foundations and put up first-story walls over the weekend. Construction will continue until Saturday, officials said, when the families will be able to move in to their new homes on South Poplar Avenue.

The construction coincides with a larger effort in Los Angeles to build 20 homes in a single week. Each year, Habitat holds a “blitz build” in different cities across the nation.

The organization has been highly acclaimed and is known for having one famous volunteer: former President Jimmy Carter.

To qualify for the program, a family of four must earn $16,000 to $24,000 a year and be chosen from a pool of applicants after a series of interviews. More than 1,000 families applied for the three Brea homes, officials said.

The families chosen were Gloria Ruiz of Garden Grove, a mother of four sons; Sandi Taylor, a Brea resident and mother of two; and Sylvia Chavez of La Habra, who supports her two children and her mother.

Under the program, the new homeowners will get 20-year, interest-free mortgages on the homes, which range in price from $65,000 to $70,000. The price is low--actual cash costs are usually $40,000 per house--because much of the materials, services and land are donated, officials said. The mortgages are paid directly to Habitat, rather than a bank.

The Orange County branch of Habitat has built 57 homes since its founding in 1988.