The Campbell family toured for the first time last Sunday their new affordable home on West Davis Street, a 1360-square foot ranch built by Yellow Springs Home, Inc.. From left, back row, are Home, Inc. Executive Director Emily Seibel, project architect Meera Parthasarathy, Aaron Campbell, Tristan Campbell, Carrie Campell holding Owen Campbell and Home, Inc. Program Manager Tom Clevenger; front row, Raven Campbell and Mia Campbell. (Photo by Megan Bachman)
Home, Inc. builds its first fully-accessible house
- Published: April 25, 2012
Apparently, it takes a village to build an affordable house.
To complete Home, Inc.’s latest home on West Davis Street for the family of Aaron and Carrie Campbell, 74 volunteers pounded nails, former Police Chief John Grote painted doors, Glen Helen provided landscaping, Antioch College students painted walls, a dozen funders put up more than $100,000, local businesses donated goods and services and the Campbells added some sweat equity.
“It’s been an incredible community effort,” said Home, Inc. Executive Director Emily Seibel at the open house on Sunday. “It may take a small army to build a house, but it takes a great community to make a home.”
The Campbells, who were on the Home, Inc. waiting list for seven years, will now move from a two-bedroom house with one bathroom, where they’ve been raising their four children in cramped conditions, to the four-bedroom, two bath 1,377-square foot house.
Aaron Campbell said the biggest change will be for their daughter Mia, who has Spina Bifida and is in a wheelchair. While Mia could not use her wheelchair in the family’s two-story carpeted home, she can now move around independently in the fully-accessible ADA-compliant ranch built with wood floors for easy mobility.
“This will change [Mia]’s quality of life,” Campbell said.
Mia Campbell and her mother, Carrie, test out the sink in the handicapped-accessible bathroom. (Photo by Megan Bachman)
The house is the 16th permanently affordable dwelling that Home, Inc. has built or rehabbed since it was founded in 1998. It is the affordable housing group’s first fully-accessible home.
The Campbell home was built to be highly energy-efficient, according to architect Meera Parthasarathy. Features include a one inch foam exterior wrap, two inches of foam under the slab, 2×6 smart framing to reduce thermal bridging, fully insulated HVAC systems, extra insulation in the ceiling, Passive Solar construction, and an overall tight exterior seal, based on the Passive House design concept. With a home energy rating system score of 68, the house will use about half the energy of a conventionally-built home.
Home, Inc. is still looking for families who may be interested in a home on the adjacent lot. Other pending Home, Inc. projects are a four-house development on Cemetery Street in partnership with the Village, a two-unit development on a donated lot on Dayton Street, and a proposed 33-unit apartment on the Barr property.
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