Saturday, February 19, 2005

Making a house a home

Local housing authority brings new life to old homes

Jennifer Emmons El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

Nine renovated homes for nine Socorro County families.

That is the dream made possible by the Socorro County Housing Authority for local families in dire need of heating, proper shelter and, simply, a place to call home.

Mary Ann Chavez-Lopez, executive director of the Socorro County Housing Authority, said that over the past year, the agency has been working with the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority and other lending groups to rehabilitate houses throughout the county so families could live more comfortably.

"We have been, and are still currently, renovating nine houses, one of which had to be demolished and completely rebuilt," Chavez-Lopez said.

Six of the houses are in Socorro, one being renovated is in Veguita and there are two homes in Magdalena that are having work done to them.

The renovations have been designed to address the poor living conditions that exist for many families in the county, an effort that is helping greatly, but is not fast enough to aid all those in need.

"The families qualify for home rehabilitations based on their income," Chavez-Lopez said. "In the beginning, when I first started, there weren't many families on our waiting list, but now, there is a waiting period of six to seven years.

"The waiting list is frustrating for a lot of people, but we have to make do with what monies we can qualify for through state and federal funding," she said.

The renovations include installing heating, air conditioning and new roofs. "Basically, all the houses have had to be gutted and completely redone — from new carpeting, to new walls and framing, to complete rewiring of the house," Chavez-Lopez said.

The renovations are funded through the NMMFA and the local authority has also leveraged with Southern Community Action and United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Development.

The local authority was also able to match funds with Midwest Community Action.

Renovations have not yet begun on five of the houses, because the local authority is still waiting on some funds from the NMMFA. One of the homes in Socorro, which is on Bagley Avenue, is complete and the family has already moved in.

Sonny and Rachel Vallejos, who have been living at 609 Bagley Ave. for more than 15 years, will be moving into their renovated home this month.

"It's great — we're very excited," Sonny Vallejos said.

Vallejos, an artist and sculptor renown throughout the state for his old southwestern and religious work, said the house was going to be demolished, but about three years ago the process was initiated by the local housing authority to save and revive the house.

"This house is really ancient — there used to be a city well here and when I was a kid, I remember coming to this property and there was all this water and fish," Vallejos said.

The house is primarily made of rock, he said, and the renovation process kept the thick, stone walls and added many modern features, including better plumbing, electricity, central heating and air conditioning.

"Five of the homes are currently under rehabilitation," Chavez-Lopez said, "and one is about 85 percent done; another is 25 percent; and the other is 50 percent done."

Chavez-Lopez said that Vallejos' house underwent a dramatic change. "It's so, so nice. It has two bathrooms, three bedrooms, a living room and a spacious kitchen. These renovations dramatically changed the house."

Construction on the house began last year, but the hailstorm in October halted the progress briefly. It took more than three months to complete, Vallejos said.

Vallejos, whose house is easily recognizable with elaborate sculptures of Noah's Ark and Jesus carrying the cross, said his artist's workshop will remain behind the house.

"Now that the house is complete, I can devote more time to my hobby of sculpting — I will now be able to put some new art in front of the house," Vallejos said.

The house and property, he said, are a big part of his life. "Now, with the renovations, it's really a home."

The Alamo Rehabilitation Project

The Socorro County Housing Authority is also finishing up one of its largest group efforts on the Alamo Navajo Reservation.

In 2001, Chavez-Lopez initiated a massive project to construct new homes at Alamo for the many families in need there. The undertaking, she said, is only the beginning on the reservation. Currently, 11 new homes are almost done and within the next year or two, the local authority, along with the various lending agencies and the Navajo Nation, plan to embark on building 16 more new homes for Alamo families.

The 11 houses in Alamo are about 99 percent done, Chavez-Lopez said. The houses in Alamo were demolished and completely rebuilt. Each of the houses were custom-built for the families that will occupy them.

Each of the houses in Alamo got new stoves and refrigerators; the houses in Socorro and Magdalena, however, don't come with stoves or refrigerators, she said, because the local authority didn't get enough leverage from various agencies to do that.

"The reason we were able to go above and beyond what we normally do is because the Navajo Nation leveraged double what they originally said they were going to," she said.

Initially, the Navajo Nation was going to leverage $238,000, however, they ended up leveraging $750,000.

Chavez-Lopez said the families in Alamo are beginning to move into the 11 houses.

"We've handed over eight of the houses to the families; three of the houses are still getting the final touches."

The local authority, the Navajo Nation and the many other agencies involved in the Alamo Rehabilitation Project will be constructing 16 more new homes in Alamo within the next couple of years, depending on how the Navajo Nation's budget is, "because it works totally different than state and federal funding."

The Navajo Nation has committed to $200,000 to go toward archeological and environmental planning and surveys. It is still unknown how much they will have to leverage for the actual construction of the homes, because they still need to submit a request for proposal.

"We've made friends for life with the people we've worked with. We all worked as a team, we had monthly meetings and we ironed out any differences — we learned to work together," Chavez-Lopez said. "We learned all the workers — we brought jobs to the community because some residents of Alamo were hired for this project and the Navajo Nation used labor force workers, too."

The Socorro County Housing Authority initiated the process of going in and working inside tribal lands — something that has never been done before by a state housing agency.

The New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority funded the 11-home rehabilitation project with $318,000. The houses are three- and four-bedroom homes.

"This is all very exciting," Chavez-Lopez said. "The money coming from the NMFA is a grant that we applied for and we receiving and the funding from the Navajo Nation is overwhelming."

"We're really excited — it's taken us (more than) two years to get where we're at because not only did we have to comply with all necessary state and federal laws, but we also had to comply with Navajo Nation regulations, which are different than our state and federal regulations."

"It's been a long journey, but it's all been worth it. This is an over $1 million project and everyone involved has been working very hard," Chavez-Lopez said. "When all the houses are built, we'll have huge housewarming for all the families in their new homes."

In addition to the 11 new homes, there will be several existing homes on the reservation that will be rehabilitated with the funds.

Among the agencies contributing to the effort on the Alamo Reservation are the Socorro County Housing Authority, the Socorro County Housing Commission, New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, Navajo Housing Agency, Eastern Plains Council of Governments, Navajo Nation, Navajo Alamo Chapter, Southern Community Action Agency and Midwest Community Action Agency.

jemmons@dchieftain.com

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