The Fuller Center for Housing of Northwest, LA, faith driven and Christ centered, promotes collaborative and innovative partnerships with individuals and organizations in an unrelenting quest to provide adequate housing for families living in poverty and substandard housing.

Goals and Objectives:

• The Fuller Center for Housing of Northwest Louisiana (FCHNWLA) was founded in 2005 in response to the housing crisis created in Shreveport by the influx of Hurricane Katrina evacuees. In partnership with Community Renewal International (CRI), the City of Shreveport, and local faith-based organizations, property, volunteers and materials were secured to initially renew the Allendale neighborhood, bringing new life to a once crime- and violence-ridden community.

  Hurricane evacuee families have found new homes and new hope on “Higher Ground” in Shreveport. The Fuller Center, along with CRI, committed to build at 60 new houses for hurricane residents in need in Shreveport.

  The FCHNWLA transferred to local management in January, 2008 and has continued to transform this community in a community of hope and love, a community where children feel safe and new and existing homeowner are coming together to share ideals and ways to improve this community for all residents.

Description of services, programs, or activities of organizations:

The FCHNWLA does not give houses away. Less than 20% of applicants qualify to become homeowners.

Recipients must perform 350 hours of “sweat equity,” attend a first-time homebuyer’s workshop, as well as go through credit counseling and other reviews in the application process. The recipients then pay a 20-year mortgage with no interest, the proceeds of which are returned to the organization to pay for new homes, rehabilitations, land acquisition and other program expenses.

Homeowners are encourage to become part of a neighborhood watch program, participate in quarterly meeting to discuss ideals and community needs, and meet with community liaison officers and code enforcement officer to maintain a dialogue and discuss ways to keep the community and it’s resident safe and secure.

Beneficiaries of the house rehabilitations program receives minor home repairs, handicapped accessible ramps, and/or exterior home painting to improve this quality of life and provide a face lift to existing owner occupied homes.

This program is primarily geared toward those that are elderly and/or disable homeowners on a fixed income and they are asked to participate in the “Greater Blessing” program, which encourages a tithing to the organization to assist with the cost of rehabilitation to provide for future recipients needs.

The overall benefit of this program is that home-ownership is created for individuals that otherwise would never experience the “American Dream” of home ownership. Substandard housing, blight and crime is reduced in the community, and individuals that have been living at or below the poverty level can experience the joy of owning a home and begin a systemic process of lifting themselves out of poverty.

Poverty blights the life chances of far too many children in our State and local area which is why we are absolutely determined to provide opportunities for individuals living in poverty to own a home thus encouraging work among parent(s), increasing social mobility and putting the poorest families on the path to success thereby breaking the cycles of poverty passing from one generation to the next.

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