ADVANCE, N.C., Sept. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Family Promise®, an organization that serves families with children who are currently homeless or at risk of experiencing homelessness, recently celebrated the donation of a new Clayton Built® off-site built home and welcomed a family to homeownership. This was the first of several new home donations planned this year from Family Promise and Clayton, a national builder of off-site and site-built homes.
Sonya Allen, of Advance, North Carolina, and her two teenaged children, Smitty and Lanie, were forced to move out of their home after it was condemned due to water damage and mold. The family spent time in a Family Promise shelter program in Davie County, North Carolina, before moving into transitional housing after graduating Family Promise's financial program.
Sonya owns family land in Advance, North Carolina, where she grew up, and had always hoped she'd be able to move back one day. By permanently placing the new off-site built home on the land, Sonya's property has the potential to appreciate over time and build equity for further stability. Now, being selected as the recipient from Family Promise for the donation of this new Clayton home, Sonya's dream of stability, security and independence has been realized.
"At Clayton we are dedicated to helping open doors to a better life through attainable homeownership," said Susan Brown, Director of Philanthropy at Clayton. "Sonya and her family have overcome obstacles and worked hard to build their future, so Clayton is honored to be part of the team providing this family with the dream of homeownership. We are very excited to witness how this family will make memories for years to come in a new home on their family land."
The home donation is part of a larger national partnership between Clayton and Family Promise. Both organizations believe that assisting families brings the nation closer to where every family has a home, a livelihood and the chance to build a better future. Through the home donation program and A Future Begins at Home, Clayton and Family Promise provide educational outreach and resource development, comprehensive case management, support services, and affordable housing solutions for graduate families, like off-site built housing and transitional housing.
"Since we launched the A Future Begins at Home program, our partnership with Clayton has helped countless families achieve housing independence through home donations and homelessness prevention efforts," said Claas Ehlers, Chief Executive Officer of Family Promise National. "We are thankful for Clayton's ongoing commitment to the fight against family homelessness, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a significant impact on America's low-income families."
The transitional home Sonya and her family were previously living in is being donated by another organization to Family Promise of Davie County, where it will be used to empower even more families on their journeys to sustainable housing.
The Allen family donation is the first of five home donations to Family Promise in 2020 through the A Future Begins at Home program, which will include donations to families and transitional housing this year
About Off-Site Built Homes
The Allen's new off-site built home, constructed by Clayton and finished by Clayton Homes of Winston-Salem is an example of the many modern off-site built homes (also known as manufactured homes) available for individuals and families seeking quality homeownership. Every off-site Clayton Built® home comes with energy efficient features such as a smart programmable thermostat, energy efficient appliances and furnace to help with long-term utility savings. The Allen family's home is permanently affixed to a foundation on her property, which will give the family the potential to build equity in their property over time.
Manufactured homes that are permanently attached to land have the potential to appreciate similarly to site-built homes according to the MH index from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The Urban Institute® reported 2018 research based on the FHFA indexes that also indicated manufactured homes may appreciate at nearly the same rate as site-built homes according to the national index, 3.4% for manufactured homes and 3.8% or site-built homes. With the current economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, families across America are finding the dream of homeownership harder to achieve than before. Off-site built homes offer an affordable and quality option for homeownership.
ABOUT CLAYTON
Founded in 1956, Clayton is committed to opening doors to a better life and building happyness through homeownership. As a diverse builder committed to quality and durability, Clayton offers traditional site-built homes and off-site built housing – including modular homes, manufactured homes, CrossMod™ homes, tiny homes, college dormitories, military barracks and apartments. All Clayton Built® homes are proudly designed, engineered and assembled in America. In 2019, Clayton built 51,964 homes across the country. Clayton is a Berkshire Hathaway company. For more information, visit claytonhomes.com. CrossMod is the trademark of Manufactured Housing Institute.
ABOUT FAMILY PROMISE
Family Promise envisions a nation in which every family has a home, a livelihood, and the chance to build a better future. What began as a local initiative in Summit, NJ, has become a national movement that involves 200,000 volunteers and served more than 111,000 family members in 2019. Family Promise will change the future for 1 million children by 2030. For more information visit FamilyPromise.org.
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