Hull, Iowa — Another Habitat For Humanity house is coming to Hull, and applications are being received from families who want to live there.
Siouxland Habitat for Humanity tells us they are continuing their efforts to change lives by building safe, decent, affordable homes in Siouxland. They say families who can demonstrate a need for safe, decent, and affordable housing and the inability to get it without Habitat are encouraged to learn the prerequisites to potentially qualify for this Habitat home in Hull.
Director Anne Holmes tells us about it.
(as said:) “We are excited. We’re… for the last year… looking for some property in Sioux County that would fit communities that either we haven’t served in the past period or some key areas that we’ve served where we’ve had great success in the past and so Hull definitely fell into that category where we’ve built in Hull before and we’ve had a great relationship with the city and we’ve always been well supported by the contractors and the businesses and the families in that area. So we’ve selected Hull as a community again and then we’ve also selected… for the very first time… the city of Hawarden, so we are excited to have that next on the list after we complete Hull and we are currently… We were able to secure one of the last pieces of the land in a new subdivision on the outskirts of Hull. So we’re very excited about that.”
She says they put out the call once or twice a year for habitat homes. She tells us what kinds of people should apply.
(as said:) “Some of the things that we look for are that individuals or families who have worked and lived in Sioux County within the last 12 months. We also have some income guidelines where we serve individuals and families who make between 40 and 80 percent of the annual median income for the county. And so we have a lot of that specific income information on our website and also on our Facebook account, which is Siouxland Habitat for Humanity. So we’re kind of asking potential applicants to kind of pre-screen themselves and ask themselves a list of identifying questions ahead of time and if they feel they meet those initial criteria, we certainly invite them to apply. And once they apply we’re leaving the application period open for about 30 days. And once that closes we have a family selection committee in Sioux County, who then review the applications and whittle that pool down to about two to three families from there.”
She says next, they go through a home-visit process.
(as said:) “Members of our community come actually into their home to assess the need for the family. And of course, need is definitely defined in a variety of ways. It might be the number of bedrooms that you have may not suit the number of individuals in the household. It could also be that the house is lacking something in terms of a safety issue. One of our most recent families had… was heating her home and her apartment through just by opening her stove. So we thought that was a real safety concern for her and her child and so need is kind of a broad-based term that we use but certainly, there are lots of opportunities and lots of circumstances that fit into to need. And once those home visits are complete then we select one family. We’d like to be able to have that family selected by the time we break ground which is set for the end of March… beginning of April depending on mother nature and the pandemic situation.”
She tells us applications are available on Habitat’s website, at the Hull City Office, and at the Hull Library. Even if you live outside of Sioux County and might be interested in moving to Hull, she says you are welcome to apply.
Completed applications can be scanned and emailed to info@siouxlandhabitat.org or delivered to the Siouxland Habitat for Humanity Sioux County office in Rock Valley located at 1334 Valley Drive.
