Posted on July 8, 2023 By ALLEN MINCEY

More than 30 years ago, Habitat for Humanity of Cleveland built its first home, and since then, nearly 150 families have moved into their residences through the program.

On Thursday, another first for the local organization will take place, as four new families will participate in the dedication of Habitat’s first quad set of homes. The dedication is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Morelock Meadows off 20th Street near Blythe-Bower Elementary School.

This will be the second dedication at that site, as the Cullins family is already living in their home there after it was completed in 2022.

Morelock Meadows will now house these four new families, and others in the next several months.

“Our team started talking about that property a few years ago. The property is a little bit less than two acres, and we were going to be able to get about six homes on that property,” explained Habitat for Humanity of Cleveland Executive Director Tammy Johnson.

“But we know that there is a rise in need for affordable housing, so we started to talk about the possibility of multi units and kind of connected with some other Habitat affiliates in other states, and we decided together to take this approach. Now, we're able to get 16 families on this property.”

The four new families will be in the quad located on the southwest corner of the property, and in time, will be joined by others families in a second quad, two triplexes and one more single family home.

Work on that second quad is presently taking place as the finishing touches are being done on the quad to be dedicated Thursday. The families will not yet be able to move in, but Johnson said it will be very soon.

Those whose new homes will be dedicated include the Rhan family, the Hutto family, the Bejerano-Diaz family, and the Barker family. Each of these families has gone through 16 weeks of Habitat classes, and has done “sweat equity” in helping Habitat projects or working at the Habitat Re-Store. Each head of the family is a single mom.

“It’s like a really tight knit class of people because they go through all their classes, all 16 weeks of classes, together,” Johnson noted. “They do ‘sweat equity’ on each other’s one, and they really get to know each other.”

The quad is comprised of a pair of three-bedroom units and a pair of two-bedroom units.

Michelle Hutto cares for her two children and says a new home will mean security and peace of mind, while Jenna Barker now lives in a duplex where her two children share a bedroom. These two families will receive the three-bedroom units of the quad.

Felicia Rhan and her son, Mackenzie, and her cat, Kitty, will be moving into one of the two-bedroom units, with Marta Diaz and her granddaughter, Deborah, moving into the other.

Johnson said she is pleased that some of the new homeowners have small children, as the elementary school is within walking distance of Morelock Meadows. Also, the new Avery Johnson Park is just up Foster Lane from the homes.

“Actually, Vice Mayor Johnson will be with us at the dedication,” Johnson said. “What we are going to do is have our ribbon cutting, which will include our key sponsors, the City of Cleveland and vice mayor will be here, Bradley County Mayor [D. Gary] Davis will be here, Stephanie Linkous with United Way and Janice Wilson from the George R. Johnson Foundation.”

Also to be present at the first dedication of a Habitat quad will be current Board President Corey Divel, Immediate Past President Lisa Mantooth, and former presidents Andy Anderson and Patty Silverman.

“This will be home number 150 to 153 since 1990, which is phenomenal,” Johnson said. Plus, there are two homes in Victory Cove that are on tap to be completed by the end of the year.

Along with the triplexes and additional single family home in Morelock Meadows, the Habitat director said there will be three homes in 2024 in Century Village, which is just west of Morelock Meadows off 20th Street SE.

“We’d love for the public to come to our dedication and welcome these new families into our Habitat family,” Johnson said.

The dedication will also be streamed on Facebook Live.