37 Willow Street
Morristown
Morris Habitat is very excited to be partnering with the Morris County Affordable Housing Corporation on our 5th collaborative project. The two organizations purchased the Willow Street property with a house that has been vacant for a couple of years due to a foreclosure. We look forward to adding to this lovely residential street by demolishing the run-down single-family home and replacing it with a new duplex. A preliminary architectural proposal has been prepared by architect Jeff Rawding of F J Rawding Architects Inc. Morris Habitat will work in partnership with the prospective homeowners (selected from the Morris County Housing Authority’s rental assistance program) and volunteers from the community to construct the homes.
One of the units will be for a low-income household. The other unit will be for a moderate-income household. Both units will have three bedrooms and 1 and 3/4 bathrooms. They will comply with the Council on Affordable Housing’s (COAH) affordable housing program and will be handicap accessible. Morris Habitat will hold the zero-interest mortgage loans.
Volunteers will work alongside the two families to help them achieve their long-awaited dreams of home ownership. Toshiba Foster is a benefits administrator with two daughters, a 16-year-old and a 2-year-old. Alexandra Rodriguez is an administrative assistant with three children: 13-year-old and 11-year-old sons and a 9-year-old daughter. Both parents will gladly spread the word about the blessings of a Habitat house: learning how to build and maintain their own homes and being able to spend more time with their families.
Youth United will raise funds for a half House Sponsorship, including grants from Bike & Build and State Farm. Other sponsors are Weichert Financial Services, the Joan Dalianis Foundation, St. Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Church in Randolph, and the 2nd Annual Share the Care Fun Run. Additional funding has come from the HOME Investment Partnerships program and a United Way of Morris County Commercial Real Estate Luncheon grant. More sponsors are needed in order to keep the homes affordable to the families. In addition, members of our professional pre-development team have offered their services pro bono or at deeply discounted rates. They include Richard Smith Surveyor in Morristown, Stewart Surveying & Engineering in Rockaway, F J Rawding Architects Inc. in Morristown and Persimmon Engineering in Rockaway.
The groundbreaking celebration was held in March 2009. By summer, the old building was demolished. Framing was completed during the winter of 2010.
- Get directions to the work site.