On Saturday, April 21, Habitat partnered with the Jubilee Commons Homeowner Association to offer residents a continuing education course on home maintenance. Habitat’s Jubilee Commons in Rockwood was completed in January of 2011 and is home to 22 families and a community center.
Jubilee Commons residents joined Habitat staff and a long-time volunteer, Carolyn Graf, to learn more about how to keep their homes in top condition. A familiar face to everyone at Jubilee Commons, Carolyn worked for nearly three years with the residents as they each completed their 500 hours of sweat equity before moving into their homes.
“It was extremely gratifying for me to see the homeowners at Jubilee Commons so interested and excited about maintaining the homes that we built,” said Carolyn. “I was also really impressed and happy to see the great sense of community they have developed with one another.”
The class focused on answering resident questions and teaching about repairs families can do around their home. Residents were able to pass on their own home care tips and talked about sharing tools to help decrease costs.
“One of our goals is to make sure families have the knowledge they need to be successful homeowners,” said Kevin Hoffman, Assistant Construction Supervisor at Habitat. “Continuing education and encouraging communication between neighbors is an important part of that.”
Habitat offers a variety of classes to homeowners before they purchase their home. These classes include HOA and tax workshops, disaster preparedness, financial literacy and gardening classes. The classes are designed to prepare every family to become successful homeowners and become rooted in their community. This is the first time that classes have been offered covering how to make home repairs to current Habitat homeowners after they’ve moved into their homes.
“We were really grateful for this class,” said Christina, a homeowner who also serves on the board of the Jubilee Commons Homeowner Association. “Our community can always learn more and we really appreciate everyone’s efforts to help us protect our homes.”