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Home My WebLink AboutNotice Miscellaneous 11/13/2007 WAYNE w-nuRNlThe Register-Guard Ter. Jokinen surveys the Sprmgfield property donated by her late husband, Stephan Jokmen, for a lO-home HabItat for Humanity subdIvIsIOn JONOR'S DREAM RISES '=QOM -o-H: GROUND UP Habitat for Humanity builds on legacy of affordable housing BY JACK MORAN The Register-Guard a pnvate developer "He felt that no one should ever be Without a home," sald Ten Jokl- nen, whose husband d1ed last November at 54 after a heart attack The couple preVi- ously had purchased and reparred several "fixer- Stephan uppers" that they then sold Jolunen at reduced pnces to fann- hes in need of affordable homes, Ten JokInen sald So, clearly, the .dea of helpmg Hab.tat for Hwnamty m Its nuSSlOn to elunmate substandard housmg and homelessness was somethmg that appealed to Joklnen, Ius w1fe said "The Hab.tat project was a dream of Stephan's," she sald "For bun to die when he d1d - I WIsh he could have seen .t com- pleted" That dream came closer to reahty on Sunday, when officIals WIth the nonprofit group broke ground on two homes on the former JokInen .t".~.t"4. ~J Eight more dwell- mgs will be built there durmg the next three years, Execullve Director Don Gnffm sald "This IS a major project for us," Gnffin sa.d The last tune Hah.tat's Spnngfield-Eugene chapter bwlt an entIre subd1Vlslon was about a decade ago, when .t completed a la-un.t SPRINGFIELD - Although the Holman and F'mnegan families never met Stephan Joklnen, .t's partly because of bun that they'U soon move mto brand- new homes Acllng out of Ius behef that everyone deserves a home, Joklnen approached local Hab.tat for HumanIty officIals m 1999 and made them an offer they couldn't refuse The plan called for Joklnen to sell Hab.- tat a vacant I-acre parcel off 49th Street for a housmg proJect The nonprofit orgamzatlon ultunately took .t off Ius hands for $35,000 _ a fracoon of what he could have made by sellmg the reSidentIally zoned parcel to 1\ j J ~ / C 067 E ~J eVt~ ,c ~ ~ -d- e,; '\ 0v<.d, '- C'/ PRE-SUBMllTAL REC'O NOV 1 3 Z007 Homes: Working families put in at least 500 hours on project Continued from Page Cl development COUSlSlJng of five duplexes L1ke the other 39 homes con- structed by the Hab.tat chap- ter's volWlteers smce 1990, the new reSidences will be occupied by worklng fanuhes who strug- gle to pay their monthly mort- gage or rent because of Income hnutallons By next summer, the Holman and Fmnegan fanuhes will take ownershlp of the first two homes In the so.called "Meyer Estates" subdiVISion Each one has three bedrooms and 1 V. bathrooms and measures about 1,100 square feet When families move mto Hab.tat -built dwellmgs, they assume a mortgage that reqm.res them to spend no more than 30 percent of therr monthly mcome on payments Families benefillng from the program must spend 500 hours volunteermg on Habitat con- struchon projects Gnffm sald the Holmans and Fmnegans each have already gIven more than 200 hours of - "sweat eqwty" to Hab.tat Jobs Ne.ther family was aVallable Monday by telephone Bes.des sellmg Ius property to the nonprofit orgaruzatlOn at a far-below-market pnce, Jokl- nen also worked on the project before Ius death He mstalled underglOund dramage p.pes beneath the planned subd1v.s.on, and sub, nulled an early des.gn plan for the homes "He was very mstrumentai m all of tIus," Gnffin SaId of Jokmen "He had a very soft spot m h.s heart for us, and for thlS klnd of work"