In the 36 years Delia Carrillo has lived in her South Tucson home, she never dreamt that one day she’d agree to have it leveled to the ground.
But she did.
And it was.
With help from the Primavera Foundation that decision, quite literally, gave way to a new foundation for Carrillo to stand on.
The organization has teamed up with the City of South Tucson through the Neighborhood Revitalization program to help homeowners whose houses are in dire need of repair.
According to Primavera’s construction administrator BJ Benjamine, the Home Repair, Home Replacement Program began just over 18 months ago. The agency has already completed repairs on about a dozen homes and replaced two.
Carrillo’s home was one that was replaced.
She had heard about the program from a friend and contacted the city. She filled out an application for home repairs and waited.
Carrillo has many fond memories of the old house where she and her husband raised their son, Freddy and daughter, Santa.
The couple divorced in 1985 and Carrillo got the house. But time and vandals took their toll on the dwelling.
“My windows were all broken. I had a swamp cooler and it wasn’t working. I wasn’t living comfortable ‘cause I couldn’t open my windows – there were boards on the windows,” Carrillo explains.
Vandals had broken virtually all of the windows in the house. The walls were cracked, the roof leaked, despite being repaired, and the foundation was sliding, Carrillo added.
Carrillo’s house didn’t stand alone.
More than 50 percent of homes in South Tucson are in need of costly work, according to the 2004 Windshield Survey by the Drachman Institute.
Of that, nearly 45 percent were fair, meaning they need $10,000 to $20,000 in repairs, roughly 5 percent were poor, in need of $20,000 to $40,000 in repairs, and about 1 percent need to be replaced because the cost exceeds the value of the house.
But as the report suggests, it accounts for just a rough look at housing conditions.
“As we began to do the owner occupied rehab on the distressed homes, those ones considered fair, about half of the ones that we started working on really needed to be replaced because the costs were so exorbitant,” says Peggy Hutchison, executive director of Primavera.
Hutchison explains what may seem to be a home in need of just a new roof may actually lead to a series of costly repairs and replacements, ultimately resulting in an expense greater than the estimate given on the Windshield report and surpassing the value of the home.
Eligibility for the program is based on income and is open to homeowners in South Tucson city limits.
“Typically, once the decision is made about either rehab or replacement program we turn it over to Primavera program because they have the professional staff and they are so knowledgeable and understanding about our community,” says Enrique Serna, South Tucson city manager.
“They’re a blessing not only for the people that they’re helping, but to our community.
South Tucson receives funding for the program from Pima County through a Community Development Block Grant.
“We now tend to funnel all of our funding over to Primavera because they have the infrastructure in place so that we don’t have to replicate that,” Serna says.
Pima County’s role, aside from providing funding, is contract management and other support for the City of South Tucson.
The county’s Home program helps homeowners by providing participants with down payment assistance up to $10,000, says Pima County Director of Community Development Margaret Kish. According to Kish, the county has freed up $70,000 for home repair for the City of South Tucson.
Upon approval of an application with the city for home repair, an evaluation of the home is completed by Primavera.
“I determine whether or not the scope of work falls within the grant amount ($25,000). If it cannot, then they automatically qualify for replacement. That means knocking their house down and replacing it,” Primavera’s Benjamine says.
Homeowners are then given the option to proceed with the replacement program, have the repairs done at their own expense, or leave the home in its current condition. The only exception is that upon city inspection, any safety hazard that may be detrimental to their “life, limb, or health” must be brought up to code, says Benjamine.
Primavera acts as a subcontractor for the City of South Tucson when it comes to home repair under $25,000. Recipients have very little contact with the organization and are not required to attend any classes or training.
Benjamine has inspected 20 homes since the program’s unveiling. A little under half were not repairable.
Like many of the participants, Carrillo had reservations for the demolition of her home. After all, that is where decades of memories were held. But her daughter assured her the trade off would be worth it.
Should a homeowner choose to proceed with the replacement program, the next step is to attend a series of four training classes on finances, homeownership and the mortgage process.
Carrillo’s daughter attended most of the classes with her.
Approximately 47 percent of the residents in South Tucson are living on incomes below the poverty line. Thirty six percent of those are 65 and older and 61 percent are under 18, according to 2000 U.S. Census Bureau figures.
“You have a population of really poor people living in highly distressed, unsafe housing, so how do you figure out a way to replace homes when you have so many people on low incomes? That was the kind of challenge that was put before us,” Hutchison says.
The solution – Primavera chose to use Energy Star manufactured homes as a replacement housing product to help ease the financial burden on their program’s participants.
The manufactured homes are put in the ground with their own foundation, equipped with Energy Star appliances and plumbed for grey water, which can be used by the homeowner for gardening. The houses are faced with stucco to blend in with existing homes in the community.
“At first I didn’t like the idea ‘cause I thought it was a trailer,” Carrillo says.
But a trip to the home manufacturer in El Mirage, Ariz. with executives from Primavera helped to ease her mind.
Carrillo reports it to be as structurally sound as a traditionally built home, and the financial stress of having a new home is minimal. A family or individual with an annual income of just $10,000 could have a monthly mortgage payment as low as $225. Those with an annual income of $20,000 would pay just $450 per month for their new home.
Borrowers qualify for USDA loans at 2.5 percent because South Tucson is considered a “colonia.” According to the Housing Assistance Council, a colonia is a city within 150 miles of the Mexican border with inadequate water systems.
Primavera has a model home for participants to live in while their home is being replaced.
“It’s not easy for anybody to see their home being replaced, and we really wanted to minimize the stress,” Hutchison says.
Carrillo stayed in the model until her home was completed. A new house improves the quality of life for her, but her decision has an even greater affect on her city.
“Housing is not a singular demographic. It really does impact, in the long run, economic development for our community, the changing of stereotypes about our community,” Serna says.
Primavera plans to rehab 48 homes and replace 65 homes in the next four years. They are also in the market to buy vacant lots where they plan to put up new homes for first-time home buyers, Hutchison says.
Over the summer Primavera partnered with volunteers from the John Valenzuela Youth Center to conduct a resident satisfaction and security survey.
Residents reported general contentment with their neighborhoods, but also identified areas where they would like to see change.
Life has changed a lot for Carrillo.
She has an extra bathroom and beams when she shows it off.
She admits what she misses most from her old house is her son Freddy, who passed away nine years ago.
But she knows that she holds his memory in her heart, and not in that old timber.
“I don’t really know what I really miss about the [old] house anymore,” she says. “I’m getting used to this one, so the other one is not that much important to me.”
She has some advice for her neighbors completing the Primavera program:
“Go for it. Get a new house. You’ll always have memories of the old house, but this is something new and it maybe safer for you. Memories – you can get new ones.”
