Geoffrey Black said it’s taken about a year, but soon, he’ll see the door swing open into a new home.
And through Rebuilding TogetherTampa Bay (RTTB), the house key is in hand.
Rebuilding Together is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that provides community resident with needed home repairs, housing, education and other forms of assistance free of cost to bring their homes to safe, healthy, habitable conditions.
Over the past year, Black, a 24-year retired U.S. National Guard veteran who was wounded in combat fighting in Iraq, worked to get his family into a permanent living situation.
Black, who also worked 14 years as a federal employee at the Armory in Plant City, and his family are currently in a home they’ve rented since September, but will soon move into the new RTTB home on Rayburn Road in south Plant City.
Black will move into the new home with his wife, Melinda Grant-Black and and 14-year-old son, Ayden.
RTTB administrators handed two new homeowners the keys to two new homes through collaboration with Hillsborough County. The homes are on Rayburn Road and the other on Ohio Street.
According to the Florida Housing Coalition, roughly 33 percent of Hillsborough County residents face permanent housing problems. More than 70 percent of Florida’s low-income renter households are “cost-burdened” with nearly 45 percent “severely cost-burdened.”
At the ceremony, Black said the new three-bedroom, two-bath home represented not just a place to live, but a symbol of stability and security for his family.
“My wife didn’t think this was going to happen,” he said. “It was interesting. It’s not too often we get a good story like this. I was joyous and relieved. There’s every emotion seeing that house that you’re going to live in for the rest of your life.”
Also attending the ceremony were Jose Garcia, executive director of RTTB; Hillsborough County Commissioner Gwen Myers; Hillsborough County Affordable Housing Director Brenda Brackins; and Plant City Commissioner Jason Jones.
In addition to Black addressing the approximately 50 people attending, Garcia said, ”Today marks not just the completion of homes, but also renewed hope for families in our community. We are committed to continuing our efforts to address housing challenges and uplift those in need.”
Both new RTTB homes have open-concept kitchen and living rooms with tray ceilings and recessed lighting. The homes formerly at the sites were razed and both lot were owned without mortgages by the homeowners.
Additionally, Hillsborough County Affordable Housing Services provided $700,000 in State Housing Initiative Partnership (SHIP) funding for the construction of the homes.