Habitat For Moomanity Houses "falling apart" moos suing

:flamingd

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5439388.ece

Ok, so let me see if I have this right:

Welfare Moos get a free house (actually, according to one of the mealy mouthed commenters there, they get a 30yr interest free mortgage, um, yeah, so FREE of interest, that's still fucking free, sure would be nice if we CF could get something interest free.. and I'm not sure how much I believe of that commentor that said that, I have seen many articles where the house WAS FOR FREE, or 100 hours of "sweat" or whatever the fuck.), Welfare Moos do not maintain said house, now Welfare Moos SUE.

Goddamn, I'd like to see some of these idiot dillweed celebrities that contribute and fawn over the welfare whores get their asses sued and lose to the moos!! FUCKING PRICELESS!!! larious

Oopsie, the link is http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us _ and _ americas/article5439388.ece (remove the 4 spaces around the underlines to get it to link).

I have mixed feelings on this story. One guy found 5 ft. of rubbish under his kitchen floorboards when he tore them up. Presumably he tore them up due to an odor, though it's not specified in the article. Some commentors said H4H consists of a bunch of chapters under local control and quality can be poor--others say that each step of the process is overseen by professionals (masons, electricians, &c.) and that the houses are sound. I tend to think both are true...BUT you have to put cash into maintaining a home. Put food, flour, &c. in sealing tins if roaches appear, clean floors, caulk, &c. It can add up, but it's a necessary expense in owning a home. If people are moving into homes from apartments where they're used to the landlord doing the work, an H4H maintenance manual or required home-maintenance class might not be a bad idea--if for no other reason to cover H4H's rear end in case of lawsuit.

Although there is something to be said about the quality of construction I also understand they are having problems with vermin- which is not related to the building. I also saw something where one of their neighbors said they were exaggerating.....

See, this is precisely WHY I would NEVER EVER do anything to help one of these cunts. They look the gift horse in the mouth and are NEVER grateful. They always feel entitled to more.

Animals are much more grateful, thankful and appreciative of help you give them.

Our CEO floated the idea of Houses 4 Hos as our corporate charity last year. The partners voted it down, and the CEO tried to lecture us about the issue. The partners fought back and told him where he could put his idea, and in words not quite as nice. Our CFO cringed at the potential financial liability and our risk management person wanted nothing to do with the potential injuries and workmen's comp claims. We chose SPCA instead.

I was a board member and a volunteer for our local rural H4H about ten years ago. What I saw might not be true in every affiliate, since they do run independently, but all are supposed to follow the basic guidelines set forth from the national office.

Yes, recipients of a house do get an interest free mortgage, but they have to meet basic income guidelines and be able to repay the principal. We did credit checks on potential families and several were rejected right away because of serious credit problems (unpaid student loans gone to collection, defaults on car loans, etc.) The family selection committee also looked at a family's monthly budget, and some applicants were also rejected based on those numbers--they would not be able to afford the payments in addition to their other bills.

As far as the "sweat equity" required, families entered into a covenant (I called it a contract once and was promptly scolded for calling it such a thing--I guess the national affiliate felt that a "covenant" was a more binding religious agreement than any contract would be, but potential families were not excluded based on religious beliefs.) The basic rule was that families put in some set number of hours on their own house, and then that same number on the next house, usually a hundred hours.

Also as far as I know, houses are required to meet state and local building codes and pass any house inspections required in the communities where the houses were located. Our chapter refurbished existing houses, either donated to the group or purchased very inexpensively. They needed extensive work to make them habitable, and during my tenure, the work was done by experienced volunteers, who were not licensed plumbers or electricians, to my knowledge.

There were also national guidelines as to square footage of houses, to reinforce the belief that recipients were to have modest and affordable housing. Townships did not offer any tax breaks, so school and property taxes were paid at the same rate as other homes assessed for the same amount.

One thing already mentioned that I would have really liked to see added to the H4H program was a home maintenance course and a home budgeting course, mandated as part of the agreement between organization and family.

That people living in H4H housing are suing the organization is nothing short of appalling, especially since the family is responsible for all maintenance on the property once they take ownership of it. What a slap in the face to the organization, and especially to volunteers who donated countless hours of their own time to a home renovation or building project.

What do these people expect when the ones helping to "build" the house are volunteers? Not all of the volunteers know anything when it comes to electricity, plumbing, or any other work that goes into building. I am so against this charity. As far as I know, NO ONE without kids has been given a house by H4H. I hate it when the workplace tries to force employees to donate to charities. My husband refuses the United Way drive. Back in the day, he told me how his boss tried to strong arm him. He did not back down. With my last job, I and some other co-workers just threw the UW forms in the garbage rather than check the "no payroll deduction" box. Oh, the account manager was mad but he could not do anything to us...LOL.