MAHP: The First Five Years
MAHP IN A MINUTE
Volume 2, Number 9: March 31st, 1997
$18 Million in Housing Activity
Tuesday March 25th marked an important milestone in MAHP’s history, as we celebrated our fifth birthday with a luncheon party at MAHP headquarters.
MAHP was incorporated 3/25/92 to meet the housing needs of area families and individuals who found themselves unable to secure adequate housing without precariously overextending themselves financially. Convinced that the existing maze of federal, state, local and private housing programs could be harmoniously coordinated to create more and better housing, MAHP President Mary Schoen-Clark and VP of Development & Operations Rollie Lobsinger set out to build a community resource capable of delivering affordable housing for the betterment of those they serve and the CR. community as a whole.
Today, part of MAHP’s success is reflected in our growth and in the wide variety of services offered. In addition to construction work on new homes, MAHP maintenance teams provide full service property management for MAHP’s rental properties. EcoYouth Salvage creates employment for teens and young adults, while still functional materials that would have otherwise been landfilled are offered to the public in the EcoYouth Warehouse. Doors, windows, molding, sinks, fixtures, hardware, computers, and household fixtures are all available at considerable savings.
Providing housing encompasses more than simply building houses and connecting them to tenants and/or owners. If the long-term needs of individuals, families, neighborhoods and communities are going to be effectively served, education is an essential component in achieving stability and growth. MAHP recognizes and addresses this need through our long-established Home Buyers Certification Class, as well as with our new Tenant-Landlord Partnership Program rental education class. Focusing on sustaining the traditions and viability of small-town Iowa living is the objective of our rural housing initiatives, currently active in Central City, and under development in neighboring communities.
Perhaps the most inspiring measure of our success, however, is captured in the words of a MAHP tenant who wrote us (coincidentally on our 5th birthday, 3/25/97): “Two years ago, I went through a divorce and personal bankruptcy, and was facing the toughest financial challenges of my life. MAHP made it possible for me to live in, and afford quality housing that I probably would not have been able to have otherwise. Keeping my housing cost down for the past two years has allowed me to save enough to buy my own home again. I will be closing on that new home on May 1st, 1997.”
MAHP eagerly looks forward to working with partners throughout our service area in the months and years to come to make similar results possible for the betterment of all.
- EcoYouth For promising young people, an introduction to the real world.
- Gore’s visit to C.R. to center on Osada