HABITAT FOR HUMANITY, QUAKE VICTIM NEAR DEAL; DISPUTE OVER REJECTED HOME CLOSE TO SETTLED; CHARITY FOCUSING ON FINDING NEW FAMILY.Byline: City News Service The Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity, nonprofit ecumenical Christian organization that enables low-income people to own affordable, livable housing. Headquartered in Americus, Ga., it was founded in 1976 by businessman Millard Fuller and his wife. organization is on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of settling a dispute with a Newhall man who rejected a house built for him by the international charity after the Northridge Earthquake The Northridge earthquake occurred on January 17, 1994 at 4:31 AM Pacific Standard Time in the city of Los Angeles, California. The earthquake had a "strong" moment magnitude of 6. . In the beginning, Habitat - whose best-known volunteer laborer is former President Carter - just wanted to help 78-year-old John Novak John Novak (born September 9, 1955 in Caracas, Venezuela) is an anime voice actor who frequently does voice work for the Ocean Group based in Vancouver, Canada. He has also starred in the Wishmaster sequels "Wishmaster 3: Beyond The Gates Of Hell," and "Wishmaster; The replace his Newhall Avenue home, built in 1939 and destroyed by the 1994 earthquake. But after Novak called his gift house a ``monstrosity'' and refused to accept it, Habitat sued him, arguing that if he doesn't live in the house, he doesn't get Habitat's services for free. And the house, vacant for more than 18 months, is now for sale. ``We're just trying to move forward and find another family that will be happy'' with the house, said Helena Delu, Habitat's North Hollywood-based earthquake recovery manager. An army of workers, including neighbors, local business owners and schoolchildren schoolchildren school npl → écoliers mpl; (at secondary school) → collégiens mpl; lycéens mpl schoolchildren school , had labored for two months in 1995 to build the house for Novak in time for Thanksgiving. But when Novak saw the new house, he declared it ugly and refused to accept it. Habitat usually requires recipients of its largess lar·gess also lar·gesse n. 1. a. Liberality in bestowing gifts, especially in a lofty or condescending manner. b. Money or gifts bestowed. 2. Generosity of spirit or attitude. to live for 20 years in the houses to qualify for the free labor the labor of freemen, as distinguished from that of slaves. See also: Free - to ensure that the agency is providing shelter for the poor and not profits for home sellers. But because Novak refused to do so, Habitat filed a lien against the property for the value of the work. A civil suit seeking $105,000 from Novak was subsequently filed in July. Two weeks ago, the house was put on the open market for $138,000. In a 1995 interview, Novak said the stark white, two-bedroom, one-bath house bears little resemblance to the quaint wooden cottage he shared for years with his wife, Kristina, who died in 1983. He accused the agency of using him to raise funds and complained about the legal hold on the property. In the past 20 years, the Habitat organization has built 50,000 houses in 47 countries. And according to the latest figures, 89 percent of the homeowners are current on their mortgage payments. |
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