‘I can’t believe that’s my home.’ How one group is helping Black residents buy a home

For 18 months, Mildred Givens searched for a house to no avail.

“It was extremely difficult at first,” said Givens. “The home-buying process is just a lot in general. I also went through a divorce and my father passed during this time. There were other bumps in the road, too. I didn’t qualify for a certain amount and the homes were way over my budget.”

Her luck began to change after attending a first-time homebuyer workshop where she learned about the Fort Lauderdale Community Development Corp., a HUD-certified Community Housing Development Organization that focuses on providing affordable housing to low- to moderate-income people in the greater Sistrunk area, the oldest African American community in Fort Lauderdale.

Givens discovered the Fort Lauderdale nonprofit was selling the home that she was interested in buying.

“It made the process a lot easier working with them,” Givens said. “I felt like I had someone that had my best interest in mind. I went through so many Realtors who felt if your budget wasn’t enough, then they didn’t put in enough effort for you.”

Bought her first home

Last year, Givens, a Miami-Dade first-grade school teacher, purchased the 1,400-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath single-family home. The home is energy efficient and solar powered. Solar Saver, an African-American-owned business in Miami, provided solar panels for the home and the Fort Lauderdale Community Development Corp. provided energy-efficient appliances and technology to significantly reduce the overall total cost of utilities.

Givens noted her monthly utility bill is less than $20.

Her home is one of five single-family homes the Fort Lauderdale nonprofit rehabbed during the past seven years, said Dennis Wright, president of the Fort Lauderdale Community Development Corp. The organization is now building six single-family homes.

“We wanted to make the home not only attainable through a first-time homebuyer program, but sustainable to someone that is living there,” Wright said. “We know that it was challenging for a lot of people once they got into the home to maintain the monthly bills and everything else that comes with homeownership.”

Wright, who owns an IT consulting business, is a third-generation property and business owner in the Sistrunk community. In 1954, his grandmother, Helen Morris started Helen’s Kindergarten and Nursery, which she owned and operated with his father Johnnie Wright Sr. until they both died. After their deaths, the school closed.

The family also owned apartment rentals and rented rooms in rooming houses.

“It’s more than just brick and mortar,” Wright said. “It is instilling pride back into the historic Sistrunk community in which I grew up. The community where my grandmother and father had businesses, rented homes and had property as well. It is so much bigger than that. We’re all working together to improve our community and have a resurgence of Sistrunk.”

Acquiring properties to rehab

Through its partnership with the City of Fort Lauderdale, the Fort Lauderdale Community Development Corp. acquired and rehabilitated projects totaling over $1.15 million in the past 10 years. Founded in 1988, the nonprofit organization also works to alleviate poverty and advocate for the residents in northwest Fort Lauderdale.

Jacqueline Price is the immediate past president of FLCDC who served for more than 10 years as president. In 2020, she became a resident of the 10-unit townhome rental building the organization owns. In addition, the organization owns 30 apartment rentals in multiple buildings in the Sistrunk community.

The retired Broward County elementary school teacher waited two years before an FLCDC rental was available.

“A lot of people have this stigma that if you’re living in a Black neighborhood, you’re living in a place that is not safe. But it’s not the case,” Price said. “I have good neighbors and people are courteous.

“They’re just working their jobs and are happy to have a place to come home where they can feel safe. That’s one of the reasons that we don’t lose tenants often.”

During the pandemic, the FLCDC offered rental assistance and provided options for those who were behind on their rent, Price said.

“As a board, we decided we wouldn’t evict people even before the government mandated it,” Price said. “We care about our bottom line, but what we really want to do is make sure people are safe and have some place to live.”

Meanwhile, Givens is enjoying being a homeowner for the first time.

“I’ve been there a year and I still walk in that door and say, ‘I can’t believe that’s my home,’” said Givens, a divorced mother of two girls, ages 6 and 10. “I enjoy the home and it comes with so many benefits like solar panels. Also, I have a beautiful backyard where my kids can grow and play.”

How to Help

To find out more about the Fort Lauderdale Community Development Corp., go to myflcdc.com, call 954-764-8500 or email ftlcdc@gmail.com