USA: Charity homes built by Hollywood celebrities and Jimmy Carter start falling apart

Residents of a model housing estate bankrolled by Hollywood celebrities and hand-built by Jimmy Carter, the former US president, are complaining that it is falling apart.

Fairway Oaks was built on northern Florida wasteland by 10,000 volunteers, including Carter, in a record 17-day “blitz” organised by the charity Habitat for Humanity.

Eight years later it is better known for cockroaches, mildew and mysterious skin rashes.

A forthcoming legal battle over Fairway Oaks threatens the reputation of a charity envied for the calibre of its celebrity supporters, who range from Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt to Colin Firth, Christian Bale and Helena Bonham Carter.

The case could challenge the bedrock philosophy behind Habitat for Humanity, claiming that using volunteers, rather than professional builders, is causing as many problems as it solves.

April Charney, a lawyer representing many of the 85 homeowners in Fairway Oaks, said she had no problems taking on Habitat for Humanity, despite its status as a “darling of liberal social activists”. She said the charity should have told people that part of the estate had been built on a rubbish dump.

One man pulled up his floorboards to find rubbish 5ft deep under his kitchen. Other complaints include cracking walls and rotting door frames that let in rats and ants. Many residents have complained of mildew and mysterious skin rashes.

One resident said her children were suffering from skin complaints. “The intentions are good, but when the politicians and big-shot stars have left we’re stuck with the consequences. This house looks pretty but inside it either stinks or sweats,” she said.

Judy Hall, the charity’s local development director, said recently that it had been dealing with about 30 complaints. She added that skilled work was carried out by professionals.

Some residents dismiss their neighbours’ worries. Diennal Fields, 51, said people did not know how to look after their homes: “It’s simple stuff: if there is mildew, don’t get a lawyer, get a bottle of bleach.”

January 4, 2009
By; John Harlow

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

Posted By: Gairk
*AfricanCrisis Volunteer*

Date Posted: Friday 09-Jan-2009
Adriana
Morgelons must be someting different. The wormie thingies from morgelons does handle a blowtorch temprature of 400 degrees celsius.
Not the same thing.

Grazy
Pretoria
SA

Date Posted: Thursday 08-Jan-2009
When one goes swimming in most South African streams, one also gets these little wormie thingees inside your skin. Takes years to get out even with daily diligent applications of oil of eucalyptus, which they absolutely hate. Nothing brandnew about 'morgellons' at all. You can even get it from rain, these little wormies even get sucked into rainclouds. An awful lot of whinging about a very simple parasite which can be easily defeated with a bit of good old fashioned thorough scrubbing with soap and hot water.

Adriana Stuijt
Dokkum
The Netherlands

Date Posted: Wednesday 07-Jan-2009
It is funny to see those that once admired or tolerated him, after one book that told the facts and truth, he is now someones demon spawn.

LoL@religious loonies running loose.

That link to some book writer, he writes that

"that occupants of Jimmy Carter's houses were falling apart",

not the homes are falling apart, but the occupants are falling apart.

Is there some loss in some translation over there.

Meatwad

Date Posted: Wednesday 07-Jan-2009
Frank of Queens who hosts The Right Perspective had some things to say about Jimmy Carter. Frank broke this story and others tried to bury it. See: The Right Perspective: Jimmy Carter thinks he is Jesus Christ...

Jan Lamprecht
Johannesburg
South Africa

Date Posted: Wednesday 07-Jan-2009
these are these same species of sub-humans who trashed the hi-rise housing that was built for them in Chicago and NY.

Quit bitchin' get off your duff and take care of something.

ethan

Date Posted: Wednesday 07-Jan-2009
The people that are in these homes should learn to take care of things they are given. I wish someone would give me a free home! My wife and I both work to keep everything that we had to pay for, we also have 3 small children. The charity is not to blame, People who want things for free are. This country is falling apart and these people are crying about a free house in hollywood. Its called rutine mantinece do some.

shane
columbus
ohio

Date Posted: Wednesday 07-Jan-2009
I've seen alot of the other Habitat homes in Florida. They are quite nice.
Generally the new owner has to contribute some labor to build it. My personal experience fixing homes rented by government supported renters is that many, not all, of these people live in filth.

Doug the Carpenter

Date Posted: Wednesday 07-Jan-2009
I always considered it impolite to look a gift horse in the mouth. Then again what do you expect from folks who think society has to care for em from craddle to grave?

Benito Motzerrella
Elfgin
Quebeka

Date Posted: Wednesday 07-Jan-2009
The thing that negatively impresses me about the Habitat for Humanity is that, in every news article and photo I have ever seen about it, the beneficiaries are overwhelmingly minorities and the benefactors are overwhelmingly White. Aren't there needy Whites? Aren't there able-bodied minorities who could swing a hammer, saw or a pick and shovel? Something is wrong here!

cf

Date Posted: Wednesday 07-Jan-2009
Residents should look into Morgellon's (new skin disease) not yet known..but being investigated by CDC in California by Keiser P. Jeff Rense has been doing articles and talk shows on this new disease Morgellon's, and as Florida is one of the Top Three States that are reporting outbreaks of this..It should be considered!

littleone

Date Posted: Tuesday 06-Jan-2009
JC and the celebs get their orders from the same people that Bush, Clinton, Obama, bin Laden, Peres, Sharon, Hussain, Cheney, Gore, Kissinger, Blair, Putin, Middle eastern countries, European countries, China, etc get theirs from.

Whatever happens it is the masses that get shafted, whether the be from the "east" or the "west".

Chi0ne1
USA

Date Posted: Tuesday 06-Jan-2009
R8R you are just mad at Carter for callingout the true Israeli nature.

You can only go so far with the materials you are given and the land they choose. And what is wrong with a bottle of bleach and a minor amount of elbow grease?

Meatwad

Date Posted: Tuesday 06-Jan-2009
I am in NZ too and I agree with the Jimmy Carter comment.

Poor man is daft.

DA
new zealand

Date Posted: Tuesday 06-Jan-2009
-
Sounds like the ANC's RDP housing projects - LOL.

Spiculum

Date Posted: Tuesday 06-Jan-2009
The moral of the story? Anything Jimmy Carter touches eventually turns to shit, like Rhodesia.

R8RCrazy
New Zealand