Local United Methodist churches launch housing program for low-income seniors.
The floor in Anna Bell Frazier's new home is so clean and warm, she'd like to curl up and take a nap on it.
"I'll just take my pillow and get right on the floor and go to sleep, because it's that comfortable," said the 75-year-old widow.
The mobile home sits on Frazier's property in rural South Carolina, north of Charleston. However, it belongs to the United Methodist Relief Center, a project of the church to help low-income elderly residents whose homes have deteriorated beyond repair.
That program is now coming to Savannah.
Members from area United Methodist churches are in the process of launching a similar "transportable housing" program to help low-income elderly land owners maintain their way of life.
"They can continue to go to their church. They can continue to have coffee with their neighbor," said Julie Vann, the program coordinator and director of missions for Isle of Hope United Methodist Church. "They're not having to move to assisted living where they don't know anybody."
Supporters gathered Saturday to celebrate around the frame of the first home, soon to be constructed outside Speedwell United Methodist Church at the corner of Montgomery Crossroad and Skidaway Road.
Leaders within the Savannah district of the United Methodist Church have met almost monthly for four years planning the project, raising funds and collecting donated materials. Each home is estimated to cost $36,750, Vann said.
Now with all the resources in place, volunteers await clearance from city zoning officials to begin work.
Similar to how the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity works, the program will use volunteers and licensed professionals to build homes for low-income recipients.
However, the United Methodists' Transportable Housing Program is different in that the recipient doesn't take ownership of the home.
Like the Relief Center, the program will enlist volunteers to construct the home on church property and transport it to the recipient's land.
After the resident dies, the program reclaims the home, refurbishes it and transports it to a new recipient.
"What we do augments what Habitat does," said Pat Goss, executive director of the United Methodist Relief Center. "People who live in a rural community - and they've lived there for 80-something years - they're not moving to town to live in the high-rise apartments that are built for elderly people. They would rather stay in a shack than move in there. This allows them to stay in their community."
Most of the Relief Center's 44 units have served three to four residents since 1999, Goss said.
In addition to constructing new mobile homes, the Relief Center also refurbishes existing homes and sells donated homes to low-income, first-time buyers. The mobile home project has been the most attractive to donors.
"By building this in church parking lots - which is where we build the majority of them - it gets us dollars we would not normally get and also volunteers we would not normally get," Goss said. "People who are not willing to go out to Timbuktu to work on somebody's house are quite willing to come down and work in their church parking lot."
Although most volunteers will be recruited from Methodist churches, religious affiliation won't be a factor in choosing someone to receive a home.
Vann said leaders are seeking advice from social service agencies that work with the elderly to establish criteria for selecting residents.
Once they receive the go-ahead from city officials, Vann expects the first home to be completed within six months.
"Our hope is to get this first one done and to try to tackle as many hurdles as there are," she said.
Program leaders will establish a board of directors and collect resources for more homes.
"There will really be a need to get somebody who can do this as a full-time, someone who can devote a majority of their time to this program," Vann said.
Each 575-square-foot home is wheel-chair accessible and includes a bedroom, bathroom with a roll-in shower, a kitchen-living room combination and a small porch. The space was smaller than Frazier's previous home where she has lived since 1970.
But that's OK, she said.
"It's small, but it's a blessing," she said. "This is real comfortable, and I don't have a lot of work to keep it up."
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How to get involved
For information about the Savannah District Transportable Housing Program, contact Julie Vann at Isle of Hope United Methodist Church at 355-8527.
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