- Habitat for Humanity receives up to 30 applications a month for affordable housing in Thomasville.
- The organization restores historic homes in neighborhoods like Dewey City and Stevens Street while building new homes on vacant lots.
- Habitat provides homeownership classes to teach families about credit management, debt reduction, and maintaining a home.
BROADCAST SCRIPT
Decades later, neighbors are still grateful for President Carter's work to create affordable homes—they say it's needed now more than ever.
"Just yesterday I had like two or three people—you know, whenever we build, people are always coming by to see, 'How can I get into these programs? How can I do it?' There's very much so a need," said Metcalf.
I'm standing in one of those neighborhoods that wouldn't exist without Carter's vision for affordable housing.
President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, dedicated decades to affordable housing, partnering with Habitat for Humanity since 1984.
Together with over 100,000 volunteers, they've helped build, repair, or renovate nearly 4,400 homes across 14 countries.
Gary Metcalf, Habitat's board chair says this mission resonates deeply in Thomasville, where the need for affordable housing is more urgent than ever with 40% of homes in Black neighborhoods vacant or dilapidated.
"Most of the neighborhoods we build in, at one time, they were thriving neighborhoods. Just over the years, the older people passed away, younger people—they don't live here, so they don't keep up with the properties. That's how properties go down," said Metcalf.
The organization offers homeownership classes, helping families transition from renting to owning.
"Because you have to get a homeowner's mindset instead of a renter's mindset. Once you get the home, it's yours, and you're responsible for repairs—you're responsible for all those things. You have to kind of walk people through the process," said Metcalf.
One person who's walked that path is Michell Beaney, Habitat's office manager and a proud homeowner since 2021.
She says Carter's vision for affordable housing gave her something she never thought possible—a safe, stable home.
"They were like, 'Michell, put in that application, we wanna help you,' and I felt as though I could never have a home that I own. It was something far-fetched in the future, but here I am today—brand-new home, we're happy, we're comfortable," said Beaney.
She's now working with others in the neighborhood to help them get the same chance, as Habitat gets up to 30 applications for affordable housing each month.
"Credit worthiness is hard. The debt-to-income ratio is critical because we have to survive, and a lot of people have a lot of debt. Going through the banks is almost impossible for a lot of people in our community," said Beaney.
And that's where Habitat for Humanity helps, guiding people to improve their credit and debt so they can buy their first home.
