Group for homeless sees rework of Little Rock house as someone's 'dream'

Charles Levesque, with Depaul USA, leads the way Wednesday as he and Bryan Griffith, with the mayor’s office, check out the house being renovated at 6601 Heather Lane in Little Rock.
Charles Levesque, with Depaul USA, leads the way Wednesday as he and Bryan Griffith, with the mayor’s office, check out the house being renovated at 6601 Heather Lane in Little Rock.

When Judy Thompson saw the Little Rock house that's being reworked into a home for the homeless, she gasped with an idea: flower boxes.

Though she's partial to zinnias and wildflowers, Thompson said geraniums would look nice against the outer wall of 6601 Heather Lane.

"Geraniums don't die on me," Thompson said, joking about her lack of a green thumb.

Thompson and two groups gave money so that Depaul USA, a national homeless service organization that operates the Jericho Way, could purchase and renovate the single-family home. Jericho Way is a resource center for the homeless in Little Rock.

The run-down structure cost about $15,000. Replacing the heating and air system, staining the floors and other upgrades will cost about $35,000.

Once complete, one or possibly two of Jericho Way's clients will move in, said Mandy Davis, director of the resource center. The exact number and method for selecting those clients has not been worked out, but the people will be vetted and will have to pay rent, she said.

On Wednesday, Mayor Mark Stodola, some city administrators and Depaul USA officials gathered at the house to kick off the restoration process.

The Heather Lane home is a "first step" toward the modern American dream: living in a place that's "affordable, safe and clean," said Charles "Chuck" Levesque, executive director of Depaul USA.

The organization takes its name from St. Vincent de Paul, the patron saint of charitable works. While alive in the 1600s, he routinely served the poor and spent money from the queen of Austria to build 13 houses for orphans, Levesque said.

This fall, Depaul USA is launching a campaign to build 13 houses for the homeless in all 151 countries that have a "Vincentian" presence. The Little Rock home is the very first for the global campaign, Levesque said.

"You guys are making history, here, with this house," he said.

Though this is Jericho Way's first foray into restoring a home, it won't likely be the last, Stodola said.

"This is just one house of, I think, many that Jericho Way will be instrumental in," the mayor said.

Displayed on a poster at the ceremony was the floor plan for a duplex. Both units would be 444 square feet with a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom, and central heat and air.

Constructing that duplex is on Jericho Way's priority list, Executive Director Mandy Davis said. Just getting people into homes, in general, has been a focus for the resource center.

Since 2015, Jericho Way has helped more than 100 people obtain permanent housing, Davis said. The vast majority of those people have been able to retain that housing because "we keep them engaged" in the community, she said.

Construction consultant David Mann led Stodola on a quick tour of 6601 Heather Lane. Cabinets, electrical outlets and fixtures will be replaced, Mann said. The oak floor will be sanded and re-stained a "honey" hue, he said.

A grapefruit-size hole in the front window will get fixed. Heating and cooling will be upgraded. In the end, it'll be a "nice little tidy energy-efficient house," Mann said.

"A little bit of TLC, and we'll be in good shape," he told Stodola.

Thompson watched the proceedings from the shade of a neighboring tree. She's a volunteer at Jericho Way. When she first saw the house, Thompson thought to herself, "I can help with this."

With fresh paint, landscaping and a couple of flower boxes, the Heather Lane house will look "happy," Thompson said.

"It's just going to look like what it's going to be," she said. "Someone's home that they love and respect."

Metro on 06/07/2018

Upcoming Events