Work continues on Habitat for Humanity house on Forkner Street
May 2—ANDERSON — With volunteers working on framing, Habitat for Humanity is working on a third house to be constructed this year.
The property is at 1412 Forkner St., and there are plans to construct a second house on the property.
Jan Miller, executive director of Habitat for Humanity, said the three-bedroom, two-bath house should be completed by October.
She said the estimated cost of the house is $150,000; the city of Anderson is providing $75,000 toward the cost, and donations to the local nonprofit agency make up the difference.
Miller said Habitat is working on new housing on both Fairview and Pearl streets that should be completed in July.
Kami Wilkerson is purchasing the house, which will be shared with her 15-year-old daughter Ka-Marei.
"This will be the first house I've owned," she said. "I'm grateful and blessed. I'm very thankful."
Wilkerson said she has been on the house cutting insulation and cutting some of the wood for the framing.
Miller said Habitat is working with the Anderson Community Development Department and the Anderson Community Development Corporation (ACDC) to eliminate blighted properties in the community.
"We're proud to be a part of Habitat," Anderson Mayor Thomas Broderick Jr. said. "We're working in partnership to clean up neighborhoods and to provide new housing opportunities."
Kevin Sulc, president of the ACDC, said building the new housing is a community effort.
There were two blighted houses on the property, he said, and Habitat is planning to construct another house on the site.
Sulc said the properties were on the tax sale list and the ACDC traded parcels with local businessman Jerry Alexander to obtain the property.
The Forkner Street house is located across the street from another Habitat for Humanity house.
Sulc said Anderson Housing Inc. owns three houses on Forkner Street to the south of the location.
Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.
