The key to the home-building blitz in Suffolk? Plan, plan plan

SUFFOLK

Ten years ago, the two-bedroom rental home in Churchland was a place for Tonya Gray to raise her two boys.

Now, Gray says all she sees is gang activity and crime. The house has been broken into four times. Two doors down, a car was stolen out of the driveway.

"It's time to go," she said.

Gray spent Wednesday morning sweeping the interior of her new house - one of 16 going up this week in the north Suffolk community of Huntersville. The construction is part of Habitat for Humanity of South Hampton Roads' home-building blitz, which began Monday.

Across the country, other Habitat affiliates are leading similar efforts to provide affordable housing to low-income buyers.

By Wednesday, the homes in Huntersville were framed and had roofs. Builders were finishing up siding and beginning interior work.

So how does everything get done in such a short time?

"Plan, plan and plan. Then work your plan," said Mike DeBlaker, project manager with Harris-Judah LLC. The company is one of two, along with a slew of trade contractors, building a single-story home for the Liu family.

Ke-kang Liu and his wife, Jin-Yu, came to the United States from China more than 20 years ago.

The Liu family worries about safety in their Virginia Beach apartment complex. Mark Liu, their son, was attacked a couple of months ago as he walked home carrying groceries.

Their new home is bigger, and the monthly payment is almost the same as what they pay in rent, Mark Liu said.

"It just means a lot," he said. "We have a pride of ownership, which we have never experienced before."

At Gray's soon-to-be home, workers built a deck and put up baseboards and windowsills. Kitchen cabinets were scheduled to arrive. Gray and 17-year-old son Breon didn't want to miss a minute.

"I love everything about it," she said as she stood in the future dining room.

After the family is settled, she hopes to plant flowers, paint accent walls in all the bedrooms and perhaps hang wallpaper - things she never did at her rental property.

Breon said he looks forward to moving away from the drugs and violence. Plus, he won't have to share a bedroom with his brother, the messier of the two boys.

"It's a new beginning," Breon said. "We can surround ourselves with different people, that way we're better

influenced."

Hattie Brown Garrow, (757) 222-5562, hattie.brown@pilot online.com