On August 25 and 26, approximately 35 area builders will volunteer at an intensive two-day “Blitz Build” of a new home at 219 Dell Street in Elsmere. The project is a partnership between Housing Opportunities of Northern Kentucky (HONK), the Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky (BIA), and the City of Elsmere.
Construction will begin at 7:30 a.m. both days. Over the weekend the single-family home will be framed up by the all-volunteer workforce. This is the fifth HONK blitz build by builders from BIA.
“By providing opportunities for our members to give back it shows the care we have for our community, our support of home ownership at all levels and locations in our area and to focus our members on their professionalism,” said Brian Miller, BIA Executive Vice President. “With our involvement and support for HONK now spanning a decade, it is exciting to see so much progress made to support home ownership in our region.”
The plans — click to see them.
This home has special importance for HONK, a faith-based non-profit organization dedicated to affordable home ownership. Dubbed The Legacy House, it is being constructed to honor Father Jack Goeke, who founded HONK more than 25 years ago.
“As HONK approached this important milestone, we felt the most fitting tribute to Father Goeke’s legacy would be to help a family realize their dream of homeownership in a home built by the community,” said David Hastings, Executive Director of HONK. “Toward this end, we are bringing together as many friends, family, and neighbors as possible to help build this home and create this opportunity.”
Much of the construction material has been donated by local businesses and further work on the house will be provided by volunteers from local churches and organizations.
The city facilitated the acquisition of the property at no cost to HONK.
“The City of Elsmere launched its first-ever strategic plan in 2016. One major aspect of that plan was cleaning up blighted properties all throughout the City,” said Mayor Marty Lenhof.
Getting the site ready.
“The City has taken a very aggressive approach in this regard but we wanted to do more than just demolish problem properties. While we are demolishing a number of problem properties, we also want to redevelop these same properties so neighbors can be proud of what replaces that previous eyesore. The benefits of working with HONK are tremendous. HONK gives individuals the opportunity to become homeowners and chart a path for personal financial success. This is a win-win in so many ways.”
This is the second new home construction by HONK in Elsmere.
Since its founding by Fr. Goeke in 1991, HONK has completed 86 rehabs and built 34 new homes in 13 Northern Kentucky communities and helped 79 families and individuals realize the dream of homeownership.
For more information on HONK and its lease-to-own program, go to www.honkhomes.org. To see Elsmere’s Strategic Plan, go to www.cityofelsmere.gov. For more information on the Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky, go to www.buildersnky.com.
